The Elements of Legal Style
by: Bryan A. Garner
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Product Description:
With expanded coverage in this new edition, The Elements of Legal Style features additional sections, many more examples, and a thoroughly researched appendix that contains 80 major statements on prose style--what it is and how to attain it. Inspired by Strunk and White's The Elements of Style, this book clearly (often wittily) 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. Garner also provides abundant examples from the best legal writers of yesterday and today, including Oliver Wendell Holmes, Clarence Darrow, Frank Easterbrook, and Antonin Scalia.
If you want to make your writing clearer, more precise, more persuasive, and above all more stylish, The Elements of Legal Style offers the surest--and the most enjoyable--means to that end.
With expanded coverage in this new edition, The Elements of Legal Style features additional sections, many more examples, and a thoroughly researched appendix that contains 80 major statements on prose style--what it is and how to attain it. Inspired by Strunk and White's The Elements of Style, this book clearly (often wittily) 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. Garner also provides abundant examples from the best legal writers of yesterday and today, including Oliver Wendell Holmes, Clarence Darrow, Frank Easterbrook, and Antonin Scalia.
If you want to make your writing clearer, more precise, more persuasive, and above all more stylish, The Elements of Legal Style offers the surest--and the most enjoyable--means to that end.
Alternate Versions:
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- Like HAL 9000 addressing the Harvard Club
You do not want to write like Brian Garner.He sounds like William F. Buckley, Jr. reading the phone book through Stephen Hawking's voice synthesizer.I found myself paying more attention to the author's ecclectic phrase choices and mincing composition than his message.Garner weighs the advantanges of the spare "Attic" style of writing (Holmes) against the florid "asiatic" style (Cardozo), then somehow manages to adopt the worst of both of them.
(And did he really just say "asiatic?") ... Read More
Rating: 
- Not just for lawyers
I am a physician who tested out of all college English to focus on science. Writing chart notes, scientific articles, or even parts of textbooks does not prepare one for the type of writing one must do when performing legal work.
Scientific-technical writing, legal writing, or the best-selling novel all require different writing styles. Mr. Garner's book must be a help to law students based on other reviews but importantly to me; it is very accessable to those who have never attended law school. ... Read More
Rating: - Shockingly good
In short, this is the first and only style guide that I have ever been excited to continue reading and share with others.It has really improvedmy writing.
Rating: - For those who wish to reach beyond the stars.
First introduced to Bryan A. Garner at one of his brief writing seminar, several years ago, I have since been a loyal reader of his works.
This book is (1) a reference book, (2) an invaluable resource, (3) more than just a grammar or style book ever thought of being, (4) chocked full of historical information and legal literary quotes, (5) presented in a humorous and accessible manner, and (6) the standard to which all legal writers should aspire.
Poor writing and the use of legalese ... Read More
Rating: - Helped me get on the Law Review
I read a review where someone said they read this and it got them on the law review. That was what I was looking for, so I bought it and the same thing happened to me (which is incredible considering my grades). This book gave me the tools to express what I want to say without trying to cram everything into one sentence. Somehow, after reading this book, I felt much less inhibited about my writing and more confident that I was using correct grammar, sentence structure, etc. Now that I think about it I'd like to ... Read More
- Like HAL 9000 addressing the Harvard ClubYou do not want to write like Brian Garner.He sounds like William F. Buckley, Jr. reading the phone book through Stephen Hawking's voice synthesizer.I found myself paying more attention to the author's ecclectic phrase choices and mincing composition than his message.Garner weighs the advantanges of the spare "Attic" style of writing (Holmes) against the florid "asiatic" style (Cardozo), then somehow manages to adopt the worst of both of them.
(And did he really just say "asiatic?") ... Read More
- Not just for lawyersI am a physician who tested out of all college English to focus on science. Writing chart notes, scientific articles, or even parts of textbooks does not prepare one for the type of writing one must do when performing legal work.
Scientific-technical writing, legal writing, or the best-selling novel all require different writing styles. Mr. Garner's book must be a help to law students based on other reviews but importantly to me; it is very accessable to those who have never attended law school. ... Read More
- Shockingly goodIn short, this is the first and only style guide that I have ever been excited to continue reading and share with others.It has really improvedmy writing.
- For those who wish to reach beyond the stars.First introduced to Bryan A. Garner at one of his brief writing seminar, several years ago, I have since been a loyal reader of his works.
This book is (1) a reference book, (2) an invaluable resource, (3) more than just a grammar or style book ever thought of being, (4) chocked full of historical information and legal literary quotes, (5) presented in a humorous and accessible manner, and (6) the standard to which all legal writers should aspire.
Poor writing and the use of legalese ... Read More
- Helped me get on the Law ReviewI read a review where someone said they read this and it got them on the law review. That was what I was looking for, so I bought it and the same thing happened to me (which is incredible considering my grades). This book gave me the tools to express what I want to say without trying to cram everything into one sentence. Somehow, after reading this book, I felt much less inhibited about my writing and more confident that I was using correct grammar, sentence structure, etc. Now that I think about it I'd like to ... Read More
