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| The Elements of Legal Style | 
 enlarge | Author: Bryan A. Garner
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Category: Book
List Price: $30.00
Buy Used: $2.18
You Save: $27.82 (93%)
New (7) Used (20) from $2.18
Avg. Customer Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 178614
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.6 x 5.8 x 1
ISBN: 0195058607
Dewey Decimal Number: 808.06634
EAN: 9780195058604
ASIN: 0195058607
Publication Date: April 25, 1991
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: few bent corners Used - Good Default Text
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Product Description
When Bryan A. Garner's award-winning Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage appeared in 1987, it was widely acclaimed throughout the English-speaking world. Just in the U.S., Harvard Law Review called it "an authoritative guide" that "all legal writers will find...invaluable." ABA Journal hailed it as "a work of learning, taste, care, and wit"; and the Michigan Bar Journal called it "a landmark reference." Garner modeled that volume after Fowler's venerable Dictionary of Modern English Usage. Now he has written a new writing guide, this one inspired by Strunk & White's classic book, The Elements of Style.
Like the Strunk & White book, The Elements of Legal Style offers authoritative, down-to-earth, and often witty advice on a broad array of writing concerns, from basic grammatical rules to enhancing clarity, force, and persuasiveness. Unlike Strunk & White, it is written for lawyers, law students, judges and their law clerks--for anyone who writes in and about the law. With broad experience as a practitioner, academic, and writing consultant, Garner knows first hand where legal writing goes wrong, and he pays particular attention to these trouble spots. He not only reveals how and why lawyers spill their words vervbosely, he also memorably shows how lawyers can clean up their spills. In a section on commonly misused words in law, Garner crisply guides readers through the hazards of legal wordchoice. Throughout the book, Garner draws on splendid and not-so-splendid examples of legal prose to illustrate his points, quoting such eminenences as Justice Holmes, Clarence Darrow, William Prosser, Fred Rodell, Ronald Dworkin, Laurence H. Tribe, and Justice Scalia.
Fred Rodell, the Yale law professor, once wrote that "90 per cent of American scholars and at least 99.44 per cent of American legal scholars not only do not know how to write simply; they do not know how to write." Rodell exaggerated for comic effect, of course, but legal writing certainly needs improvement. In The Elements of Legal Style, Bryan Garner shows the way.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 Like HAL 9000 addressing the Harvard Club June 25, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
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?")
As a member and fan of the "California" school of legal writing (Kozinski) and rhetoric (Nancy Grace), I admit my distaste for this book is personal. The information itself is valuable. However, the content here overlaps substantially with "The Redbook: A Manual on Legal Style (2d Ed.)." As a day-to-day reference work, that book is a much better bang for your buck.
 Not just for lawyers August 10, 2006
10 out of 12 found this review helpful
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.
Legal style is a "style" that is important in the profession of law. If you do any work in this area at all, whether it is on the stand or writing essays, it behooves the non-lawyer to read this book. So, even though I agree with the glowing reviews from lawyers, this book may be even more important to those of us who must do legal work but have never been to law school.
Shockingly good March 8, 2006
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
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 improved my writing.
For those who wish to reach beyond the stars. October 22, 2005
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
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 have always been bug-a-boos of mine. And, over the lifetime of my legal practice, having to slave over thousands of statutes, briefs, decisions, motions, etc., has only intensified my belief that too few lawyers know how to write well, and that the legal profession should abolish the use of legalese from the practice of law.
In Mr. Garner, I have found a champion. In "The Elements of Legal Style", writers wishing to take their craft beyond the stars will find a valuable cache of information that will lay the foundations to improve their writing and persuading skills. He shows you how to remove the legalese from your writing, how to make your writing dynamic and exciting, and how to use your writing to better persuade. This book, along with "The Winning Brief", should be the foundation of your arsenal of writing tools.
Helped me get on the Law Review July 12, 2005
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
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 it again. I'd highly reccomend this to someone who wants to write legal papers that are actually readable and have some style.
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