During my 26 years with the Stritmatter law firm, I have written countless briefs in countless cases. Gleaning from my experience, I have come up with nine tips for writing effective and persuasive legal briefs.
TIP 1: CONCISELY SUMMARIZE YOUR CASE, ISSUES, AND ARGUMENTS AT THE START OF YOUR BRIEF.
Provide the judge with a map of where you are going in your brief. Do not leave the judge guessing.
TIP 2: ORGANIZE YOUR BRIEF IN A LOGICAL WAY.
Outline your brief before you begin writing it. The logic of your arguments should flow smoothly and bridge together.
TIP 3: USE HEADINGS AND SUBHEADINGS TO INTRODUCE YOUR TOPICS.
Headings and subheadings keep your reader on track as to where you are headed and act as signposts. Good headings and subheadings help keep your brief crisp and reader-friendly. In the argument section of the brief use argumentative headings.
TIP 4: STAY ON POINT.
Avoid long compound sentences. Focus your paragraphs on a single topic at a time. Don’t digress. If something isn’t necessary to understand the issue being addressed, or if doesn’t add human interest, leave it out.
TIP 5: AVOID USING LEGALESE AND THROAT CLEARING LANGUAGE.
Use plain English. Avoid words and phrases like heretofore, hereinafter, comes now and wherefore. Instead, use clear and simple words of common usage. Also avoid the use of superlatives such as always, clearly, absolutely, etc. in your brief.
TIP 6: AVOID CLUTTER IN YOUR BRIEF.
Put references to exhibits in footnotes rather than in the text. If you include string citations in your brief, put the primary case or cases in the text and all secondary case citations in a footnote.
TIP 7: USE PHOTOGRAPHS WHEN POSSIBLE.
A picture is worth a thousand words. Spruce up your brief with photographs and other graphics when you can.
TIP 8: USE SIMPLE LANGUAGE.
Any mediocre mind can make things complicated, but it takes a sharp mind to make the complex simple. Working hard to make your brief simple helps you better understand your case and arguments and it helps you score points with the judge. You know that you have mastered your case and arguments when you can explain them to a nonlawyer in simple ordinary language.
TIP 9: HAVE OTHERS CRITIQUE YOUR WORK.
Avoid pride of authorship. Have other lawyers read and critique your work. This is the most important step in the whole writing process. This step helps you gauge the persuasiveness of your brief by highlighting its strengths and weaknesses and it gives you the opportunity to make your brief even better.