Thursday, April 29, 2010
Blog Updates
This blog will be updated regularly so please bookmark the site as one of your daily reads.
Charlotte
Charlotte
A Manual on Legal Style Bryan Garner
Bryan Garner—
Bryan Garner’s The Redbook: A Manual on Legal Style.
You will never write as well as you read, so read seriously and for technique. Subscribe to The New Yorker, The Economist, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. After you’ve completed your legal research, but before you write your brief, pause, sit down, and read an article in The Economist. Then write. It will be a good tonic to your style.
Be a lawyer who clarifies and not a lawyer who obfuscates. Judges will trust your writing and you will win more often, even when the merits are not in your favor.
Learn how to write proper English. Buy a dictionary, thesaurus, and a writing usage book (or two). If you’re not careful with your grammar, judges will wonder what else you are not being careful with.
Challenge inadequate and inefficient legal writing dogmas like putting citations in the body of your writing and double-spacing legal briefs whenever possible and appropriate, but don’t push your luck and lose your job in the process.
Write a letter on your business’ stationary each day. If your handwriting sucks, work on that too. Most literary people have a good hand.
Don’t write it if you wouldn’t say it out loud. A good brief should be able to stand up to a strong oratorical reading.
Don’t bury your good content. It’s untrustworthy and ineffective. Emphasize and amplify what IS important in your writing. For example, on the first page of your brief clearly and concretely frame your legal and factual issues in a single paragraph no longer than 75 words that ends with the question mark.
Find yourself a writing mentor or two. Find the best writers in your firm or department and gravitate towards them. Be careful – you can iron in bad habits as well as good.
Write simply and clearly. No one should have to read a sentence twice to understand it’s its meaning, and you should always use the simplest word that means the same thing. If your reader was going to skip your word, sentence, paragraph or quote anyway, omit it from your writing.
Don’t stagnate your writing. Work on multiple writing projects at the same time, so you can jump from one idea or style of writing to another. It will keep your mind fresh and you will be more efficient.
Bryan Garner’s The Redbook: A Manual on Legal Style.
You will never write as well as you read, so read seriously and for technique. Subscribe to The New Yorker, The Economist, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. After you’ve completed your legal research, but before you write your brief, pause, sit down, and read an article in The Economist. Then write. It will be a good tonic to your style.
Be a lawyer who clarifies and not a lawyer who obfuscates. Judges will trust your writing and you will win more often, even when the merits are not in your favor.
Learn how to write proper English. Buy a dictionary, thesaurus, and a writing usage book (or two). If you’re not careful with your grammar, judges will wonder what else you are not being careful with.
Challenge inadequate and inefficient legal writing dogmas like putting citations in the body of your writing and double-spacing legal briefs whenever possible and appropriate, but don’t push your luck and lose your job in the process.
Write a letter on your business’ stationary each day. If your handwriting sucks, work on that too. Most literary people have a good hand.
Don’t write it if you wouldn’t say it out loud. A good brief should be able to stand up to a strong oratorical reading.
Don’t bury your good content. It’s untrustworthy and ineffective. Emphasize and amplify what IS important in your writing. For example, on the first page of your brief clearly and concretely frame your legal and factual issues in a single paragraph no longer than 75 words that ends with the question mark.
Find yourself a writing mentor or two. Find the best writers in your firm or department and gravitate towards them. Be careful – you can iron in bad habits as well as good.
Write simply and clearly. No one should have to read a sentence twice to understand it’s its meaning, and you should always use the simplest word that means the same thing. If your reader was going to skip your word, sentence, paragraph or quote anyway, omit it from your writing.
Don’t stagnate your writing. Work on multiple writing projects at the same time, so you can jump from one idea or style of writing to another. It will keep your mind fresh and you will be more efficient.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Ramblings From a Recent Seminar
My thoughts on the Pacific Institute
When Nick Saban arrived at The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, he inherited a team without vision, leadership or motivation. In response, Saban, in his search for excellence, sought professionals to help garner a more positive attitude among his players. Saban interviewed three professional groups, all renowned motivators and facilitators of personal growth and development for individuals. One of the professionals eventually hired by Coach Saban told me that Coach Saban took presentations of these three groups home to his own children and asked them to watch the tapes and determine to which of the three groups they would be more inclined to listen. Ultimately, Coach Saban, after listening to his children, chose The Pacific Institute, headquartered in Seattle, Washington.
I highly recommend a weekend at a Pacific Institute seminar for anyone who desires to strengthen the potential for growth and excellence in his or her life.
Recently, I had the privilege of attending a three-day seminar in Seattle at The Pacific Institute and would highly recommend it to all professionals. You can find information on the institute at ....http://www.thepacificinstitute.us/v2/
The Pacific Institute's website states, "The application of our education empowers people to recognize their ability to choose growth, personal freedom and personal excellence. We commit ourselves to providing this education, all over the world, through all means that are just and appropriate."
WHAT DID I LEARN?
I thought the seminar, entitled "A Weekend with Lou" was not only life-changing, but also practice-changing for me. I was impressed and quite surprised at the level of application I was able to take from the seminar into my private law practice. Much of the philosophy and application of the program is connected to the premise "We are what we think we see ourselves as being"....The seminar started with some high-spirited team members' leading the group in a song entitled "I Am Who I Want to Be"......This was not a shouting, mind-altering, testifying, hand-holding seminar, but rather a lesson in making the most of every day.
Some Personal Points of Interest:
1. I should not be so focused on one area that I miss something right in front of my face.
2. I must envision what I want to happen during the day.
3. I should make goals and envision myself already achieving those goals.
4. I should spend time each day thinking about the goals I have set for myself.
I highly recommend a weekend at a Pacific Institute seminar for anyone who desires to strengthen the potential for growth and excellence in his or her life.
--Charlotte
New Iphone
Next iPhone Going On Sale During WWDC, Not After?
Posted 04/28/2010 at 9:29:35pm | by Matthew Tilmann
We all know June may as well be renamed "iJune" thanks to the annual refresh of the iPhone lineup. Typically Apple announces the next iPhone, and then it goes on sale shortly thereafter. A new rumor according to MacNN, has the phone actually being released DURING the WWDC this year! This is according to sources "familiar with the situation."Now, if this holds true, the iPhone could possibly go on sale as early as June 7th, which is supposedly about when Apple will hold the WWDC 2010 keynote.
This change of pace would actually align the iPhone with the iPod, which for several years now has had various new models both announced and launched at the same time. Of course what would have to be addressed is why Apple could be moving up the iPhone shipping times, but speculation runs rampant that it could have to do with the leaked prototype.
Image courtesy of hardwareinsight.com
Divorce on the Beach 2010
Divorce on the Beach, 2010 (DOB XXIV)
ttp://www.alafamlaw.org/divorce.php
When? - June 3-5, 2010
Where? - Bayside Inn, Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort, Destin, Florida
What? - Divorce on the Beach provides12 hours of great CLE, including your one hour of ethics CLE in one of the most beautiful settings on the Gulf coast. Relax and unwind along the beautiful beaches, swim or fish in the emerald green Gulf of Mexico waters, bring your golf clubs or tennis racquet, or just bring a good book and relax by the pool.
In addition to the educational part, we will have two cocktail parties (Thursday and Friday evenings) with loads of good food and beverages. Come to catch up with old friends or meet and make new friends.
Each year on Friday evening during the cocktail party we host a "Silent Auction" to raise funds for scholarships at each of the state of Alabama law schools and to contribute to providers of services for abused, neglected, and abandoned children.These auctions have raised thousands of dollars for charities. While the adults are eating, drinking, and bidding, kids will have a hour of fun craft activities. So bring the whole family.
IPAD
3G Ipads are ready for shipping....Do you have your ordered? Soon I will be posting a list of blogs that specifically follow ways to use the Ipad in professional practices. If you have an ipad, I would appreciate your commenting below to let us know ways in which you are using the Ipad. Our local meteorologist, Dan Satterfied, had an Ipad in his hand during the recent outbreak of tornadoes. I have one; it is permanently attached to my hand, and I can't get it off....am still toying with ways to use it in my practice.
Newsgroup of Interest
If you are interested in using mac computers in your law practice, I suggest you join the newsgroup:
http://groups.google.com/group/milogroup/topics
My personal practice is "All Mac, All The Time." Our firm is PC-based, but I manage to use Macs personally. I find the MILO group to be very helpful and informative.
-Charlotte
http://groups.google.com/group/milogroup/topics
My personal practice is "All Mac, All The Time." Our firm is PC-based, but I manage to use Macs personally. I find the MILO group to be very helpful and informative.
-Charlotte
RSS Readers....What are they? Why do you need one?
Recently, I found a new means to save myself time in surfing blogs and newsreaders on the internet, thus, giving me more time in my day to service my clients.
This method is called RSS News Readers. Instead of bouncing from blog to blog or site to site, one can look on one site and find all of the new posts that have occurred that day or since the last time the site was updated.
If you are interested in learning about RSS feeds, look at the following
"silly," but informative, youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU
If you need additional help, look on the web under RSS feeds and find a
method that helps you.
Some websites I have on my newsfeed include:
*The Mac Lawyer
*Alabama Family Law Blog
* Maclitigator
* Lee's Divorce and Family Law Blog
These are just a few. Once legal practitioners recognize the benefits of a newsreader and blogs, they will realize the many different means available to strengthen their own practices.
Do yourself a favor by spending some time searching areas which interest you.......Go to Yahoo or Google and plug in search terms like "Blogs for Photography," "Blogs for Pilots," "Blogs for Runners," "Blogs for Criminal Lawyers," "Blogs for Alabama Fans," "Blogs for Auburn Fans," etc. Search for topics that interest you and you will be pleasantly surprised at the blogs available.
____Charlotte
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