Legal Writing: Citation, Grammar and Style Guides

The ALWD Manual was intended as a more user-friendly alternative to the Bluebook. Occasionally the ALWD Manual includes examples that provide context for the application of Bluebook rules.

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Also available in print (KF 245 .U54)

The goal of this little book is to make the task of mastering citation form as easy and painless as possible.

A lawyer's ability to choose words wisely and accurately is a valuable component for effective communication. This book arranges words alphabetically in two groups: favorable-critical (Part One) and critical-favorable (Part Two). The reader can use the columns to see the corresponding advocacy word or critical words in the opposite column.

Also available via Bloomberg Law

12th edition. Also available via Westlaw (valid Westlaw ID and password required for access).

This reference contains over 10,000 synonyms, terms, and expressions specifically related to the legal profession.

This This book thoroughly analyzes modern legal vocabulary. For example, it provides dozens of sets of near-synonyms that have long perplexed lawyers. It concisely defines and differentiates the terms and uses asterisks to indicate words and phrases that are invariably inferior forms, making it easy for readers to tell which ones to avoid.

Law-related words and phrases abound in our everyday language, often without our being aware of their origins or their particular legal significance. This insightful book reveals the unknown stories behind familiar legal expressions that come from sources as diverse as Shakespeare, vaudeville, and Dr. Seuss.

Kept up-to-date by annual cumulative supplements

This book features a profuse collection of legal words and phrases, or words that are commonly used in legal work. The etymologies first focus on the meaning of the entry in the legal context, then provide the "roots" of the word focusing on ideas that a lawyer would find particularly helpful or enlightening.

This 46-volume set contains judicial definitions, from both state and federal courts, of words and phrases, arranged alphabetically. Definitions may pertain to statutory language, court rules, administrative regulations, or business documents, among other sources. Each definition contains a citation from the court that provided the definition. Kept up to date by cumulative annual pocket supplements and replacement vols. Also available via WestlawNext.

This book is a guide directed to employees in law offices and related workplaces who review documentation for grammatical correctness, provide written information to the legal community, or create general correspondence while often faced with time constraints, deadlines, and stress. It includes sections on sentence structure, parts of speech, punctuation review, and grammar.

This concise and compact guide offers thorough coverage of proper legal writing technique and style to help students resolve questions and develop strong writing skills. It includes exercises that students can use to test themselves as they go.

The ultimate goal of this book is to help students and practitioners understand that good writing cannot be accomplished in a single draft; good writers must be good editors. Each chapter of the book is organized around one of the principles of good writing and begins with an editing checklist for accomplishing that principle of good writing. The book explains each item in the checklist, providing students and lawyers with the instruction and straightforward editing tips that they need to become effective editors.

Part of the ABA fundamentals series, this book includes a brief history of the English language, as well as comprehensive information on every thing from singular vs. plural, to composing a legal memorandum.

Inspired by Strunk and White's The Elements of Style, this book explains the full range of what legal writers need to know: mechanics, word choice, structure, and rhetoric, as well as all the special conventions that legal writers should follow in using headings, defined terms, quotations, and many other devices.

The Grammar and Writing Handbook shows the reader which rules need to be followed, how to choose the correct words, and the most effective way to structure every sentence to compose more persuasive, stronger material that's flawlessly written.

The Lawyer's Editing Manual includes advice on word choice and modifier placement, conciseness, sentence and paragraph structure, and effective transitions. The manual ends with conventions inspired less by consensus than by the reader's reliance on consistency, such as whether and what to capitalize or how to treat abbreviations, symbols, and lists.

This Hornbook promotes the art of good writing by teaching students and practitioners the tools to make their prose clear, precise, simple, and forceful. With examples of what works and what doesn’t, this short but comprehensive work provides an invaluable resource for recasting writing for maximum impact and ultimate success.

The Redbook is written in the style of a restatement, with black-letter rules that are followed by exhaustive comments and illustrations. The more than 700 pages cover all aspects of writing style from grammar and punctuation to drafting legislation and scholarly writing.