Reviewing your own prose for improvements is a cognitively
challenging task. You’re trying to spot problems—wherever they might lurk—and
fix them. If you’re a self-editor with at least moderate skills, you’ll do
better in more than one go. The task entails repetition. The challenge is to
see your piece a little differently each time.
Here’s a valuable tip: In one of your read-throughs (but never
your last), make an electronic copy in which you radically change the typeface,
the font size, and the margins. The copy is so that you won’t be messing up
your master version. Choose an 18-point version of some typeface you’ve never
heard of—one that looks fairly readable—and set the margins at two inches.
Print it out for hand-marking. The physical changes on the page will promote
your ability to give your prose a fresh look. You’ll be able to read the piece
more as a stranger would. You’ll spot and fix problems more effectively. Try
it.
Attend the most popular CLE seminar of all time. More than 215,000 people—including lawyers, judges, law clerks, and paralegals—have benefited since the early 1990s. You'll learn the keys to professional writing and acquire no-nonsense techniques to make your letters, memos, and briefs more powerful.
You'll also learn what doesn't work and why—know-how gathered through Professor Garner's unique experience in training lawyers at the country's top law firms, state and federal courts, government agencies, and Fortune 500 companies.
Professor Garner gives you the keys to make the most of your writing aptitude—in letters, memos, briefs, and more. The seminar covers five essential skills for persuasive writing:
framing issues that arrest the readers' attention;
cutting wordiness that wastes readers' time;
using transitions deftly to make your argument flow;
quoting authority more effectively; and
tackling your writing projects more efficiently.
He teaches dozens of techniques that make a big difference. Most important, he shows you what doesn't work—and why—and how to cultivate skillfulness.
