Quite a lot of material presented to tribunals is illegible. There are good reasons for this. Many documents produced out in the real world are…
Intensifiers are adverbs intended to strengthen adjectives. For example, writing ‘very unfair’ instead of ‘unfair’ should suggest that whatever you are referring to is more…
Most of us have words and phrases that we overuse. For example, I have a tendency to start sentences with ‘clearly’ when writing submissions: as…
One common mistake in legal writing is excessive length. One of the causes of this is redundant phrasing. For example: We will provide a written…
You will often hear people in tribunal saying ‘That begs the question’. Almost all of them are misusing the phrase. ‘Begging the question’ is a…
Do not use them. You will look overexcited! Overeager! And quite possibly out of control! Seriously, exclamation marks are not generally appropriate in legal writing.…
It is often useful to number issues or similar topics. It provides structure and organisation. For example, in a written submission it is common to…
A number of people have commented or emailed about “Do not submit” which recommended that advocates eliminate “I submit” from their vocabulary when addressing the…
Many lawyers write and say things like: In my submission, the employer failed to follow a fair procedure This, I submit, was an act of…