Judge Concurs to Say Majority Opinion Is Too Damn Long
Who wants to read a 104-page opinion? Not this guy.
Legal Writing
DOJ: Opponent’s Use of 12-Point Font “Prejudices the United States”
A heated battle recently took place in D.C. between the federal government and South Carolina in a voting-rights case that may have important implications for the upcoming election. Of course I'm referring to lawyers' bickering over font size. Not that it…
There Is No Klingon Word for Deference
Of course there isn’t.
All Briefs Should Now Be in Comic-Book Form
If I could draw I might do all of my work this way.
Hooray for Jack Daniels (and Its Lawyers)
Especially given the recent Charles Carreon nastiness, it is nice to get a reminder that many lawyers are not (and need not be) assholes. Cease-and-desist letters are a frequent source of evidence to the contrary. These are often necessary in…
OMG, “SNF” Is BS, LHS Tells NARUC and DOE
We … remind the parties that our Handbook of Practice and Internal Procedures states that "parties are strongly urged to limit the use of acronyms" and "should avoid using acronyms that are not widely known." Brief-writing, no less than "written English, is…
Does Congress Need to Be Held Back a Grade?
There are various software tools available that will let you determine the "grade level" and/or complexity of a particular piece of text. The Sunlight Foundation ran a couple of decades' worth of the Congressional Record through one of them, and the…
Buddy Trahan Needs a Ride
The beginning of a motion filed in Louisiana on February 21, 2012: IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURTFOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA IN RE: OIL SPILL by the OIL RIG "DEEPWATER HORIZON" …
Warranty Coverage for Space-Invasion Damage Now Unclear
As several sources reported last week, the ASUS computer company had been offering a special extended warranty program that looked pretty good except for the express exclusion of coverage for "damage caused by natural disaster, intentional or unintentional misuse, acts…
Feds Guilty of Backwards-Correct-Syntaxing-Modification-Fraud, Plaintiff Alleges
Huh?