Description
Total Credits: 7.0 (Skills 6.0, Ethics 1.0)
Using the right language when drafting contracts, wills, trusts, or day-to-day legal correspondence is a skill that every lawyer needs to master to successfully practice law. William Bernhardt will walk you through his 10-step process within a transactional framework. Ethical considerations will also be addressed. Mixing short lectures with hands-on writing exercises, you will learn the skills you need to take your practice to the next level.
Topics Included:
Ten Steps to Superior Legal Writing
— Tools for Maximizing Clarity and Precision
— The Power of Simplicity
— Eliminating the Unnecessary and the Unhelpful
Contracts and Other Business Documents (Part 1)
— Organizational Tips
— Employing the Decimal System
— Strategic Table of Contents
— Names, not Labels
— Avoiding Ambiguity and Redundancy
— Creating Your Own Reusable Clauses
— Considering Your Audience
— Improving the Language of the Past—Without Undue Risk
Contracts (Part 2)
—Workshop: Exercises on Improving Transactional Documents
Trusts, Wills & Estates
— Organizational Tips
— Implementing What Client Wants or Needs
— Anticipating Future Events on Paper
— The Benefits of Clarity
— Safeguarding Your Client’s Interests
— Avoiding Ambiguity
— Workshop: Exercises on Improving Transactional Documents
Other Considerations for the Transactional Lawyer
— Improving Correspondence and Email
— Fundamentals of Document Design
— Finding Better Forms
— Harnessing the Lightning
— Eliminating Legalese
— Every Word Matters
— Making Your Writing Memorable
— Workshop: Exercises on Making Your Writing More Effective
The Writing Process
— Thinking the Project Through in Advance
— Prewriting and Free-writing
— Outlining to Save Time and Improve the Result
— Predicting the Future
— From First Draft to Last Draft
— The Revision Process
— Proofreading for Perfection
Ethical Considerations in Legal Writing
— Ethical Communications with Clients
— When Does the Attorney-Client Relationship Begin?
— Who Is Your Client?
— Recording Conversations
— Ethical Communications with the Public
— Advertising vs. Soliciting
— Concerns Regarding Attorney Websites
Materials
| Complete Course Materials (1.1 MB) | Available after Purchase | ||