Oates, Enquist, and Kunsch have published the third edition of The Legal Writing Handbook, one of the most comprehensive legal writing books available today. This book speaks powerfully about the entire legal writing process. There is a definite art and science to crafting legal documents and this book provides the detailed instruction necessary for legal professionals and law students to produce truly outstanding work. Readers are briefly introduced to the American legal system in terms of government and court history, responsibilities, accountability, and the nature of both common and enacted laws. Then comes the real meat - performing legal research and analysis, making use of available printed and online resources, learning sound legal grammar, and instruction for crafting a variety of professional legal documents that lawyers write most often - legal advice memos, client letters, motion briefs, and appellate briefs.
The book is very helpful in terms of crafting legal documents. Readers will quickly pick up on how to select the right words and how to effectively structure their thoughts. Like the work of a sculptor or clay modeler, legal documents should be crafted in such a way as to convey the right message to the right people. Through a variety of gripping written examples the reader will learn just how important it is to devote quality time and to give serious thought to the legal writing process.
The book reveals in no uncertain terms that there are definite strategies involved in crafting legal documents. Whether one is an attorney for a plaintiff or defendant, a law enforcement officer, or prosecutor, the outcome of court cases can hinge on one's writing skills. One revelation from the book that will hit readers hard is that clever legal document writers can act unethically by crafting their legal documents in such a way as to distort the truth to get guilty people off. Likewise, there is the possibility of trying to convict totally innocent people. An innocent person can be made to appear quite guilty of a crime by cleverly crafting such documents. Certain facts can be emphasized or de-emphasized, mis-truths can be implied through the clever use of wording and structuring, and so on, to cast particular people in poor light. Readers will find utterly amazing - and perhaps a bit frightening - how opposing parties can take the same set of facts and circumstances and craft two entirely different perspectives involving the same case matter!
Readers are also introduced to the many types of helpful and essential legal research resources available to them - online court decisions and statues, online information brokering services, law dictionaries and encyclopedias, law reviews, and general practice books - all of which will greatly contribute to the legal writing process.
This book will be of immense help to any lawyer and law student desiring to develop their legal writing skills - or to polish up their existing ones. They will be introduced to a number of essential research and writing resources, they will be exposed to expert writing instruction and numerous legal documents, and they learn how to best represent their clients in legal matters. This is must reading for lawyers, law school students, and other legal professionals!
