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Effective Legal Writing
Effective Legal Writing
Sources of this
Presentation
• LEGAL WRITING
By: J. Cesar S. Sangco
• TOO LONG
• A-accuracy
• B-brevity
• C-clarity
THE FIVE ELEMENTS OF EFFECTIVE
WRITTEN COMMUNICATION
1. PRECISION
2. BREVITY
A. Use the simple, familiar and concrete words
B. Short sentences
C. Make your paragraph compact
3. Originality
4. Vividness
5. Style
ON MATTERS OF STYLE for
STYLE MATTERS
• FONT SIZE
-- Use TIMES ROMAN—THE WORKHORSE OF SERIF FONTS, COMPACT AND
RELIABLE AT ALL SIZES, A NEUTRAL BUSINESSLIKE
TYPE SPACE
TEXT 1.5
BLOCK QUOTES 1
BETWEEN PARAGRAPHS 3
PROPER MARGINS?
POSITION SIZE
LEFT 1.5’’
RIGHT 1”
TOP 1”
BOTTOM 1”
ESSENTIAL PARTS OF PLEADING
BEFORE THE SUPREME COURT
A. REFERENCE TO COURTS
Reference to courts other than the Supreme Court should be in lower case
committed
B. PARTY DESIGNATION
Party designations, such as petitioner, respondent, appellant and appellee, are not
capitalized even if replacing a proper name.
E. GOVERNMENT AGENCIES
1. Capitalize references derived from proper names of government
agencies
The Bureau ( refe rring to the Bureau of Custo ms )
F. POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS
Capitalize words designation political subdivisions when they
are essential elements of specific names.
A. NON-ENGLISH WORDS
Italicize non-English words. Non-English words are those
not found in the latest unabridged Webster ’s dictionary.
When necessary, include a parenthetical explanation or
translation immediately after the word.
Basi (local fermented wine) was served by the victim to the
accused before the altercation.
B. NAMES OF NEWSPAPERS OR MAGAZINES
Italicize the names of newspapers or magazines.
The details of the incident received extensive coverage
from such newspapers as The Philippin e S tar .
“ Highlighting or Italics Supplied”
For EMPHASIS
A. FOR ADDED EMPHASIS
Use italics or boldface to emphasize specific words or
phrases
Five
55
5,555
The following provinces were represented by a good number of delegates :10 from Mindoro, 12
from Laguna, 15 from Quezon and 16 from Batangas.
D. ADJACENT NUMBERS
To clarify back-to-back modifiers, spell out the smaller number. If the numbers are the
same, spell out one.
One hundred fifty disbarment cases are still pending with the office of the Bar Confidant.
D. NUMBERS IN DIALOGUE
Spell out numbers in dialogue, except numbers in large amounts.
G. NUMBERS IN DIALOGUE
Spell out numbers in dialogue, except numbers in large amounts.
H. ORDINAL NUMBERS
Treat ordinal numbers the same as cardinal numbers. Spell out the first through the
ninth, and use figures for the 10th onwards.
The winning raffle ticket was three eights and two sixes.
AGE MATTERS!
AGE IS EXPRESSED IN FIGURES.
20% to 30%
A FRACTION OF A FRACTION
1. Spell out common fractions and mixed numbers and use a
hyphen
One-fourth
0.5
.45 caliber
AND THE WINNER IS…
For voting results
1. Use figures and the comparative term to when reporting
voting results.
P500/$300
5km
300 sq m
36 Mhz
TO BE MEASURED AND NOT FOUND
WANTING…
40-kg sacks
5-cm board
20-m distance
5km
300 sq m
36 Mhz
WE NEED MORE TIME?
1. EXPRESS TIME IN FIGURES FOLLOWED BY a.m. or p.m.
4. Spell out names of the days and months in the text and
footnotes. Abbreviate only in formats such as tables, graphs and
catalogs where space is a consideration.
ABBREVIATIONS
1. ON THE FIRST USE, NAMES THAT ARE CUSTOMARILY
ABBREVIATED ARE SPELLED OUT FOLLOWED BY THE
ABBREVIATION IN PARENTHESIS.
The powers of the Supreme Court which concerns admission to the bar is found in
paragraph 5, section 5 of Article VIII of the 1981 Constitution. Sec.5 also covers the rule
making power of the Court.
--long paragraphs can put off your readers even if they are lawyers.
--strive for an average paragraph of not more than 150 words.
A LONG SENTENCE IS A DEATH
SENTENCE.
1. LONG SENTENCES ARE THE HALLMARKS OF TRADITIONAL
LEGAL WRITING BUT OUR WRITING CAN BE LEGALLY ACCURATE
WHETHER WE USE ON SENTENCE OR SEVERAL SENTENCES
(not this) Petitioner sent respondent copies of the pleadings and some
additional documents in response to the request of February 9, 2005.
ERGO, Include only those words that will sufficiently get the
point across, no more no less.
SOME PITFALLS OF SENTENCE
WRITING
WHY WRITE THIS:
Limit the use of LATIN words to phrases that are generally used,
i.e. res ipsa loquitor, prima facie, res judicata, sui generis. (LATIN
PHRASES ARE OFTEN JARRING TO THE MODERN READER, EVEN
WHEN THAT READER IS A LAWYER)
SOME PITFALLS OF SENTENCE
WRITING
6. AVOID THE ARCHAIC
a. Aforesaid
b. Henceforth
c. Hereinbefore
d. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary herein
e. Null and void
f. Give, devise and bequeth
g. Free and clear
h. Full and complete
i. True and correct