Point taken : how to write like the world's best judges /
"In Point Taken, Ross Guberman delves into the work of the best judicial opinion-writers and offers a step-by-step method based on practical and provocative examples. Guberman begins with a system for crafting effective and efficient openings to set the stage, covering the pros and cons of whet...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
New York :
Oxford University Press,
2015
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| Edition: | 1st edition |
| Subjects: | |
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Table of Contents:
- I. Set the stage : the opening. Teaser opener : succinct and unresolved
- Teaser practice pointers
- Trailer opener : detailed and unresolved
- Trailer practice pointers
- Sound bite opener : succinct and resolved
- Sound bite practice pointers
- Op-ed opener : detailed and resolved
- Op-ed practice pointers
- II. The tale : the facts. The signal and the noise : cut clutter
- Big picture : add background
- Shine a light : emphasize key facts
- Do you see what I see : adopt a narrative voice
- Clean-up : enhance visual appeal
- Practice pointers for fact statements
- III. The meat : the legal analysis. Overview : The skeleton
- Overview : In the flesh
- With you in spirit : paragraphs as dialogues
- Order out of chaos : internal organizational devices. A. Headings
- B. "Umbrella" introductions
- C. Bulleted and numbered lists
- Me, too : analogizing
- Not here, not now : distinguishing
- As an aside : parentheticals
- Lead 'em on : quoting without tears
- Troubled waters : the footnoters' dilemma
- Practice pointers for the analysis
- IV. The words : style must-haves. Sentence-level strategies. A. What a breeze : direct, natural, "impure" diction
- B. The starting gate : short sentence openers
- C. Size matters : the pithy sentence
- D. Talk to me : variety in sentence form
- E. Parallel lives : parallel constructions
- Word-level strategies. A. Lean and mean : words and phrases to avoid
- Interlude : 16 key edits
- B. Zingers : evocative verbs
- Interlude : 55 zinger verbs
- C. A dash of style : the dash
- Interlude : the hyphen
- D. Good bedfellows : the semicolon
- E. Drum roll : the colon
- F. Take me by the hand : seamless transitions
- Interlude : 135 transition words and phrases
- G. Bridge the gap : linked paragraphs
- Practice pointers for style must-haves. Sentence strategies
- Word strategies
- V. The words : "nice-to-haves" in style. It is what it is : metaphors
- As if : similes
- That reminds me : examples and analogies
- Treasure trove : literary and cultural references
- That's classic : rhetorical devices
- Practice pointers for style nice-to-haves
- VI. Dissents : the road not traveled. A sordid tale : wrong on the facts
- Piercing the veil : wrong on the law
- Get real : wrong on the policy. A. Anti-elitist
- B. Anti-populist
- Practice pointers for dissents
- VII. Appendices. Biographies : Marsha Berzon, Louis Brandeis, Benjamin Cardozo, Edward Carnes, Alfred Denning, Baron Denning, Frank Easterbrook, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Benjamin Goldgar, Brenda Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond, Learned Hand, Leonard Hoffman, Baron Hoffman, Oliver Wendell Homes, Jr., Robert Jackson, Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh, Michael Kirby, Alex Kozinski, Beverley McLachlin, D.P. Marshall, Jr., Michael Musmanno, Jan Paulsson, Michael Ponsor, Richard J. Posner, Jed Rakoff, John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Shira Scheindlin, Patrick Schiltz, John Paul Stevens, Jonathan Sumption, Lord Sumption, O. Rogeriee Thompson, Roger Traynor, Patricia Wald, Diane Wood
- Practice pointers