Charles Halton (the biblical scholar, not the actor) has compiled a list of top 10 impediments to beautiful academic writing. Many items on the list apply to legal writing, such as:
1. Quoting a foreign language and not providing a translation.
2. Jargon.
3. Endless, rambling writing.
4. Being boring.
5. Not using section headings.
(And my favorite) 10. Don’t try to improve your writing.
Charles elaborates on each of these, and on the other four listed items. To get the whole thing, read his post.
Though Charles’s main topic is biblical and Near-Eastern studies, he writes regularly about engaging academic writing. Since writing is writing, many of these posts apply to legal writing too.
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