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    Wisconsin Lawyer
    February 01, 2003

    Judge Eich's 10 Commandments of Brief-writing

    1) Know your audience. Court of appeals judges are very busy people, with only limited time to devote to reading your brief; they need information; they need direction; they appreciate conciseness, courtesy, and honesty. And they are attracted to thoughtful, graceful writing.

    William Eich

    Wisconsin Lawyer
    Vol. 76, No. 2, February 2003

    Judge Eich's 10 Commandments of Brief-writing

    (A Personal List)

    1) Know your audience. Court of appeals judges are very busy people, with only limited time to devote to reading your brief; they need information; they need direction; they appreciate conciseness, courtesy, and honesty. And they are attracted to thoughtful, graceful writing.

    2) Don't neglect the basics. Even the required, seemingly mundane, portions of the brief - the Statement of Issues and the Table of Contents - can serve a persuasive purpose because they provide the judges with a roadmap through the reading, deliberative, and opinion-writing phases of the appeal.

    3) Curb that narrative. Don't recite facts for recitation's sake. I know it feels good, but it is distracting to the judges and often sends them down blind alleys, testing their patience with you and your arguments. Keep it relevant.

    4) Organize! Argue your strengths first; and put away the shotgun. Don't give the judges an array of arguments to pick from; show them the one they should take.

    5) Avoid legalese. Hereinafter eschew said jargon. Try to forget you went to law school. Write like a nonlawyer.

    6) Be wary of parentheses. Stifle that urge ("the urge") to double-identify. It'll help.

    7) Write with style. Think of E.B. White ("A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, and a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts") - or even Vin Scully ("He hit the ball as wide and deep as the August sky ...."). (They're worth repeating.)

    8) Be courteous. Trashing anyone - an opponent, the trial court, the prosecutor - may relieve the writer's tensions, but it is very counterproductive.

    9) Rewrite.

    10) Rewrite again.


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