To “Garnerize” a court paper is to do more than correct grammar or tighten prose. The term wasn’t invented at LawProse. Lawyers and judges throughout the country use it—a fact that surprised us at first. It denotes something more substantial than mere line-editing: a Garnerized court paper is built around the court’s needs. The goal is to convey the salient points quickly and durably: a fast read that stands up after close study.
Start where the decision starts. The opening paragraph should concisely state a concrete deep issue—without one wasted syllable. Give the court the controlling law, the dispositive facts, and the result sought. Use short topical headings in title case—“Introduction,” “Background,” and “Legal Standard”—to navigate the preliminaries. But in the argument section, use affirmative point headings in sentence case (no initial capitals). They should progress from the governing rule to the case-specific reason it controls. A reader who scans the headings should see a theory of decision, not a list of topics.
Lead with the strongest dispositive point. State the rule. Apply it to the facts that matter. Use active verbs, concrete nouns, and citations that support rather than replace analysis. Meet adverse authority head-on. Cut inflammatory rhetoric, overstatement, and sniping: courts are persuaded by reason, not heat. Close by showing why the law and record converge on one sound result—the requested relief. A Garnerized filing isn’t a warehouse of authorities. It’s an instrument of persuasion: clear in structure, sober in tone, and hard to resist.