Legal Writing 10/2/2017

1st Semester, AY 2017-2018

 Legal writing is taut

 Tighten your style
 Advice : reduce by at least 25 percent
your first draft
 Strike out slack syllable
 Make every word tell
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF LEGAL WRITING  Rooting out verbiage / verbosity

 Avoid facile writing  Avoid the opening flourish and go

 Avoid recurrent phrases that are equivalent
of throat clearing / needless “build-ups”
 e.g. 1. In my considered opinion . . .
 e.g. 2. May I respectfully suggest that . . .
 e.g. 3. I should note here that it would be
helpful to remember the fact that . . .
 e.g. 4. It should not be forgotten that. . .
direct to the point
 E.g. It must be remembered that the
rule of thumb in the law of contracts
is that contracts are the law between
the parties.
 E.g. A will is ambulatory in character
and subject to change or revocation
at any time.

 Avoid flotsam phrases or “fillers”, they idly  Did not have support  Lacked support
float in a sentence without carrying any  Did not recall  Forgot
Not apposite  Inapposite
meaning 
 Outdated
◦ E.g. It seems to me that, in terms of, my  Not current
 Unimportant; trivial
Not important
sense is that, in the first instance, the fact 
 Accidental
Not on purpose
that 
 (generally, often)
 Not unreliable Reliable
 State thoughts positively, not negatively
 Of no use  Useless
◦ E.g. The decision is not wrong

Instead of increasing
Say decreasing emphasis
deemphasis

Judge Debbie Dulay Del Val 1

Legal Writing
1st Semester, AY 2017-2018
 DON’T indulge in the lawyerly habit of
shoving several negatives together
◦ E.g. The order vacated had required
the oil companies to abstain from
refusing to deliver interstate
shipments of oil
◦ Instead – Until vacated, the order had
required the oil companies to deliver
interstate shipments of oil
 Structure your thoughts simply and
directly
 Order your thoughts sensibly, logically
 Make an itinerary / outline
 “Start strong, end strong” vs. “building
up” vs. “scatter-shot” vs.
“hodgepodge” attack
 Monotonous attack vs. crescendo and
decrescendo attack
 The beginning and ending of the
sentence is likewise a point of
emphasis
◦ E.g. 1. Law is the current of society
and also an essential medium of
change.
◦ E.g. 2. no answer is what the wrong
question begs
 Try to use short sentences / simple
declarative sentences
Judge Debbie Dulay Del Val
10/2/2017
 Be specific and concrete
 Give enough supporting details, avoid
being excessive
◦ Rewrite : Ms. Locsin returned to her
apartment and discovered
indications that it had been
burglarized. She contacted the
authorities.
 A sentence must be so written that the punch
word comes at the end
The end is emphatic explains why periodic

sentences work
◦ E.g. But when for the first time I was called to speak
on such an occasion as this, the only thought that
could come into my mind, the only feeling that
could fill my heart, the only words that could spring
to my lips, were a hymn to her in whose name we
are met here tonight – to our mistress, the law
(O.W. Holmes, The Law)
 Develop the art of subordination – knowing
what to make less important and more
important
◦ Rank ideas
◦ Gramatically subordinate the lesser ideas
to the greater by putting the lesser ideas
in dependent clauses and the greater in
main clauses
◦ Don’t hesitate to use conjunctions such as
after, although, as, because, before, if, so,
etc.
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Legal Writing 10/2/2017
1st Semester, AY 2017-2018

 Rewrite : When the judge entered the
courtroom, everybody rose
 Rewrite : The Court, in the course of
the hearing, noted that the accident
had occurred in Bakakeng Central,
Baguio City. The Court found that it
was a proper forum in which to try the
issues. The Court therefore denied the
motion to transfer venue.
 If ideas are of equal or unequal importance,
clarify their relations through parallel
phrasing with the use of “parallel
coordinators” which work best in long
sentences
◦ E.g. Although/yet; both/and; either/or;
first/second/third; if/then; just as/so;
neither/nor; not/but; not only/but also;
not only/but . . . as well, when/then;
where/there

 Rewrite  What is a paragraph?

One paragraph should only have one idea
◦ He did neither X nor Y 
 One paragraph should only have one
◦ Easements can be of either an conclusion
affirmative or negative nature  The ideas in one paragraph are so intimately
related
◦ The court concluded that the
 How long?
evidence neither is substantial  Paragraphs are good transitional devices
nor circumstantial.

1. assertion then details Argument, exposition


2. Data then conclusion

 A Paragraph must present a coherent
 Exposition, narration
idea

 3. Chronology  Narration
 4. particulars in spatial  Description  Paragraph should show the
order
Argument, narration,
 5. Cause and effect

exposition
progression from one idea to the next
 Argument, exposition  Link your paragraphs
 6. Likeness, analogy
Argument, exposition
 Use transitional words – and, but,

 7. Contrast
 Exposition
 8. Definition
 Exposition besides, further, furthermore,
9. Classification
moreover, nevertheless, etc.


Pattern Common uses

Judge Debbie Dulay Del Val 3

Legal Writing
1st Semester, AY 2017-2018
 Rhetorics with substance
 No to sophisms
 No to grandiosity
 Yes to logical sequencing
 Not necessarily chronological or linear
but never petitio principii
 Memoranda under A.M. No.
99-2-04-SC
◦1. statement of the case
◦2. statement of the facts
◦3. statement of the issues
◦4. argument
◦5. relief
Judge Debbie Dulay Del Val
10/2/2017
 1. statement of the issues
 2. Marshaling of the evidence, issue by
issue, in order of decreasing importance
 3. Examination of the credibility of evidence
 4. analysis of evidence found to be at all
credible
 5. Weighing of conflicting evidence
 6. verdict
 Court decisions – state facts of the
parties, state issue, state findings of
facts, state law and jurisprudence
applicable, state the fallo
 Parts of a decision
 “start strong, end strongest” or “start
strongest, end strong”
 Give “knock-out punch” arguments
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