The Importance Of A Legal Writing Coach

By Essie Osborn


Lawyers are always needed to write their presentations in a specialized way. Their writings need to bring out the full expression of their analysis of various problems or issues and be able to convince third parties when representing their clients. The main point is that the documents needs to be concise, clear and following the rules and regulations set by the legal profession. This is where a legal writing coach comes in.

In the legal field, there are two kinds of writings which are common to attorneys. The first kind includes those documents sent to fellow legal professionals in the office and letters addressed to the client. It is required of these writings to create a balance on the stated problem. Therefore, the background of the recipient has to be given some consideration as well as his/her interests.

When addressing the two parties mentioned above, the lawyer will do so in a different way. For example, with the client he needs to explain technical terms used in the document in order to avoid a state of confusion. This is, however, not the case with the other lawyer being addressed in the office. If he does so, then it will only be amounting to inefficiency and may even annoy him.

The other type of writing is the persuasive one. This includes writings such as negotiation letters being sent on the behalf of the client and appellate briefs. Here, the lawyer needs to put out his point straight without arousing any provocations by making the other party to feel disrespected. He should also not write unnecessary information to the individual as this would be just a waste of time. If a document is being presented to an administrative agency or a court of law, then it must be written in the right style.

Contracts and wills drafted by lawyers need to be written in the best way possible. They need to present the interests of the client well and this is the reason why they have to be written with much keenness. There are guides that lawyers can use when writing them in order to ensure the right form is achieved.

Training coaches help lawyers in mastering the concept of legal writing. Once one has undergone the training, their documents can be better understood by experienced readers as they are able to get the right information from them as well as evaluate any cited authorities in the document. A lawyer can therefore learn about the format of citations in line with court rules on how they are supposed to be done.

The process will first start with the lawyer presenting his/her coach with the legal writings he/she has done before. The coach will then review the document while checking out for the style, structure and substance in it. The legal talent of the client is therefore natured once he/she gets to learn the techniques of self-editing.

As seen, coaches use past writings of their clients to teach them. There are those who will first check out for the English used in the document before analyzing the structure, tone, logic, integrity, persuasiveness and balance of the document. They will then give their comments and go through it once again with the student.




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