The Winning Brief: 100 Tips for Persuasive Briefing in Trial and Appellate Courts, 3rd edition

The Winning Brief: 100 Tips for Persuasive Briefing in Trial and Appellate Courts, 3rd edition

its initial two printings The Winning Brief demonstrated that knowing the intended audience for your writing is crucial to writing well by providing 100 succinct, useful, and simple-to-use writing suggestions. The third edition of Bryan A. Garner's contemporary classic offers even more proof to back up the same priceless principles. These techniques, which range from how to design and organise a brief to how to use openers to grab a judge's attention in the first few sentences, combine to make the most persuasive, well-organized, and eye-catching brief an advocate can submit.

excellent writing, according to Garner, is just excellent thought expressed on paper. He cautions, "Never write a sentence that you couldn't easily speak," and then goes on to show how to achieve so. Every tip starts with a collection of experts' quotes that can be used as a reference. Next comes Garner's expert guidance on creating strong paragraphs, crafting concise sentences, selecting the best words ("Strike pursuant to from your vocabulary"), referencing sources, quoting authorities, and creating a document that looks as good as it reads. Throughout, Garner applies the fundamentals of rhetoric to persuasive writing, demonstrating via striking before-and-after examples how to edit for maximum impact. With hundreds of new examples, nine new recommendations, and enlarged explanations throughout, Garner has refined the text in this significantly extended third edition—all in his signature manner. The updated parts include advice on how to write strong reply briefs, respond to opponents' arguments, use legislation and contracts to structure arguments, and comprehend judges' reading patterns. Throughout the book, Garner has refined and built upon the numerous quotations that she meticulously gathered over many years of extensive reading and in-depth research. An amazing brief, which some people believe to be the greatest ever written, is also included in a new appendix ("a beautiful marriage of rhetorical skill, thorough research, and humane lawyering"). Possibly the most significant update to this version is that each tip now concludes with a summary checklist that summarises and clarifies the previous subpoints discussed along with further suggestions for improvement.

These checklists were part of Garner's idea to assist readers in approaching his book as a collection of 100 lessons. Brief writers will get a level of proficiency by going over and practising each tip that more casual colleagues will struggle to match.

The Winning Brief is a priceless tool for legal professionals, judges, paralegals, law students, and their instructors. It possesses the authority, approachability, and page after page of practical strategies that have made all of Garner's works so well-liked. This book should be open on your desk if you're writing to win a case, not just sitting on your shelf.

Contents of The Winning Brief: 100 Tips for Persuasive Briefing in Trial and Appellate Courts, 3d edition

Preface To The Third Edition
Preface To The Second Edition
Acknowledgments
Prologue (Tip 1)
Composing In An Orderly, Sensible Way (Tips 2-10)
Conveying The Big Picture (Tips 11-19)
Marching Forward Through Sound Paragraphs (Tips 20-26)
Editing For Brisk, Uncluttered Sentences (Tips 27-43)
Choosing The Best Words (Tips 44-56)
Punctuating For Clarity And Impact (Tips 57-62)
Becoming Proficient In Designing Text (Tips 63-69)
Sidestepping Some Common Quirks (Tips 70-84)
Capitalizing On Little-Used Persuasive Strategies (Tips 85-91)
Hitting Your Stride As A Brief-Writer (Tips 92-100)
Appendix A: A Before-And-After Makeover Of A Motion To Dismiss
Appendix B: A Petition For Discretionary Review
Appendix C: A Remarkable Appellee's Brief
Select Bibliography
Index