New Book

No one ever taught me to write before I entered law school. How often did we hear growing up that spelling and grammer did not count when we wrote papers? For me, it seemed that none of my teachers, even English teachers, were comfortable with style. They wanted to pass on the quality of the idea and leave issues of grammer, usage, and other niceties to someone down the line. I went to professor after professor for post grade conferences who told me, "Huh, you know a lot more about the material than I could tell from your paper." Finally, second semester, with the help of the best professor at this law school and Bryan A. Garner's books, I started learning to edit my writing. I have come to the conclusion that they should issue Strunk and White's The Elements of Style, Garner's Redbook, and Garner's Legal Writing in Plain English, and the Texas Law Review Manual on Usage and Style to all incoming law students. These books are MUST haves.

The point of this post is that there is a new book on the horizon. I think I may pre-order it like the good little nerd I am. It is a collaboration by Bryan Garner and Antonin Scalia. It is called, Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges. Regardless of your feelings on Scalia, the man can flat out write. This one promises to be a must read for all lawyers serious on improving their writing. Here's a review of the writing process from Law.com.