Book Review: Elegant Legal Writing by Ryan McCarl

Good trial lawyers routinely seek to improve their skills, attending seminars, conducting mock trials, watching other trials, etc. Appellate attorneys are no different, except honing our skills often involves reading other briefs, watching oral arguments, and staying up-to-date on trends in the law.

By far writing is the most important skill to develop in appellate and post-conviction practice. Thus, professional development should also include learning how to improve legal writing skills. Appearing in court and participating in oral arguments represent a small fraction of my practice. I read a lot, but I write a lot more.

Earlier this year, Ryan McCarl published his book, Elegant Legal Writing, a helpful guide to improve legal writing. He defines elegance as “harmonious simplicity” and “tasteful appropriateness.”

How does one achieve “elegant” legal writing? According to McCarl, by focusing on (1) readability; (2) simplicity; and (3) aesthetics. McCarl summarizes the objective in this way: “A lawyer’s job is to chart a path through complexity — not add barriers to understanding.”

I try to find “professional development” time during the work day to read, but it rarely happens. So now I get up early every morning and squeeze in time to read, even if for only a few minutes.

Reading about legal writing at 6 a.m. isn’t always my favorite thing to do! But McCarl’s book broke the material up into manageable sections and presented it in an easy-to digest format.

McCarl’s book will teach you how to be a better legal writer. Admittedly, much of what he wrote was more geared towards newer lawyers, but his tips on time management when writing were very helpful for even a more experienced writer like myself.

Many legal practitioners experience writer’s block at the beginning of a new project, not because they do not know what to write about, but because they do not know where to begin.

McCarl explain that every large writing project “is a collection small tasks.” Thus, one should begin any new writing project by breaking the project up into chunks and estimating the time it may take to complete each chunk.

Each writing session, complete a chunk of work and select the task that you will complete next. This keeps you moving forward and always making progress, and you will know what needs to be done next. This takes so much guesswork out of the writing process.

McCarl also provides a workflow to guide you:

• PHASE ONE: PREWRITING RESEARCH AND BRAINSTORMING. This involves reviewing all the relevant documents (transcripts, exhibits, pleadings, client communication, etc.) and brainstorming issues to research, arguments to make, etc. Organizing all the information during the review process can be daunting. Usually creating a case chronology and taking copious record notes works best for me. As I’m reviewing, I highlight issues to research later.

• PHASE TWO: OUTLINING. McCarl suggests that in this phase, create an outline of your writing project. This phase involves taking the organizational document created in Phase One and creating a skeleton/outline of how you’ll incorporate the information into your writing.

• PHASE THREE: DRAFTING. In this phase, McCarl suggests you just sit down and write a complete first draft. This phase may take several days, depending on the size of the project. So break the writing up into sections. This phase is much more about progress than perfection.

• PHASE FOUR: REVISING. Once the draft is complete, it must be proofread, revised, and edited. This includes checking the document’s visual appearance.

What was missing from McCarl’s book was helpful information about how long to schedule for each phase. Granted, it is hard to estimate how much time each phase will take without knowing how big the project is. But, with experience, lawyers do pick up on some things. For example, I can review and take record notes of approximately 50 pages of transcript per hour. Thus, if I have a 500-page transcript to review, then I can predict it will take me about 10 hours, more or less, to complete Phase One. If I have a thorough outline of my writing, I can expect it to take approximately 45-60 minutes per page of drafting. Thus, if an initial appellate brief can be no more than 30 pages, I should schedule 22-30 hours for the drafting process in Phase Three.

One other topic missing from McCarl’s book? Advice on juggling multiple writing projects at once. His tips and strategies would have been useful.

Nevertheless, McCarl’s book was well-organized and used examples to illustrate his points. It is an excellent resource for lawyers beginning to practice but not as helpful for more experienced practitioners.