The Lawyer's Essential Guide To Writing

Proven Tools and Techniques, by Marie Buckley
(click here to buy book from the ABA)

The Lawyers Essential Guide to WritingThe Lawyer's Essential Guide to Writing is an entertaining, concrete guide to contemporary legal writing. Based on the lessons I have learned during many years of coaching lawyers, the book provides a systematic approach to all forms of written communication, from memoranda and briefs to e-mail, blogs, and newsletters.

  • "Go Buy this Book . . . it's an extremely valuable book. This book will make you a stronger writer. It's a fair price for a book that can help you win cases and get clients." –TheLawyerist.com (Jan. 20, 2012) Click http://bit.ly/lawyeristreview to see the full review.

  • "Marie Buckley's book is not only practical, but also lively and often delightful. I enthusiastically recommend it to any lawyer--and not just those who are starting out--who is interested in communicating clearly and persuasively." -The Honorable F. Dennis Saylor IV, United States District Judge, Massachusetts

  • “Imagine learning cooking one-on-one from Julia Child or attending spring training side-by-side with Dustin Pedroia. This book guides you through the workroom of a master craftsman in the art of legal writing. Learn the tricks and techniques that turn a workmanlike brief into a persuasive tour-de-force. Compelling as a text and handy as a reference guide, this book is a ‘must have’ for all law firm associates.”—Marie Lefton, Esq., Principal, Hoffman Alvary & Co. LLC, law firm management consultants

  • “Marie Buckley understands that legal writing is really about the reader. She has crafted a textbook that shows lawyers how to stop sounding like lawyers.”—Tony Feeherry, Chair of General Litigation Group, Goodwin Procter LLP

  • “It’s rare for a manual on writing—especially legal writing—to be so entertaining and enlightening that you don’t want to put it down. Yet that’s how I felt reading Marie Buckley’s new book. Her principles for better writing are straightforward and easily applied, and are delivered with an ideal combination of precision and good humor. I would be thrilled to see this book on the shelf of every associate in my law firm.”— Michael Tuteur,
    Litigation Department Chair, Foley & Lardner LLP

  • “Marie Buckley provides lawyers an eloquent instruction manual for clear and persuasive writing. Notably, she covers not just the workaday wordsmithery of briefs and memoranda, but also gives guidance for writing letters, emails and blogs. Throughout, her emphasis is on clarity and simplicity. This is a book not just for newer associates but for any lawyer who wants to be a better writer.” – Robert Ambrogi, Influential Blogger and Consultant (Click here to see the full review: http://bit.ly/lawsitesreview)

The Lawyer’s Essential Guide does more than simply stress plain English: it focuses on the structure and substance of powerful writing. Written in a read-as-you-write framework, it explains three essential principles for effective writing and shows how to apply those principles to cultivate a clean, modern style. And because the principles discussed in the book apply all types of written communication, it’s not just for litigators.

The book also includes a Usage, Grammar and Punctuation Guide that addresses the burning questions that worry all writers, but that lawyers are often too embarrassed to ask out loud. Is it OK to use an em dash? What is an em dash anyway? How do I make a plural possessive? “Affect” or “effect?” Does the period go inside or outside the quotation? And what about the serial comma?

The Lawyer’s Essential Guide to Writing will be a resource for lawyers in all types of practices and at all stages of their careers. I hope that it will give lawyers the courage to find their own voice and to write with confidence and authority.

Buy the book from the ABA