Legal Writing Midterm Reviewer

Legal Writing
-

kind of used by lawyers, law professors,

g) Avoid punctuations which cause ambiguity

h) Apply the seven rules of clear writing

judges and other workers in the field of law

to express legal rights obligations and
opinions
Types:

Rules in Clear Writing:

A) Be clear on your point
B) Make sure your point is communicated at

1. Informative writing
2. Persuasive writing

once
C) Have a structure. This is where you put your

3. Functional writing

data, analysis and argument

D) Observe grammatical rules

Motion a written of oral application made to a court

E) Be precise

or judge to obtain a ruling or order directing that

F) Be consistent

some act be done in favor of the applicant. The

G) Be logical and clear in your argument

applicant is known as the moving party, or the

movant.

Persuasiveness (Purpose)
a) Rule-based reasoning

Elements of Legal Writing:

b) Analogical

1. Simplicity

(and

the

reasoning)

2. Clarity

c) Policy-based reasoning

3. Persuasiveness

d) Narrative reasoning

Avoid tautology
-

counter-analogical

Fallacy - an error in reasoning.

This means doing away with unnecessary

repetition of an idea in different words.

Clarity (Purpose)

Fallacy of Ad Hominem
-

from Latin argument to the man

an argument rejecting a persons views by

a) Use concrete instead of abstract terms

attacking

b) When abstract terms could not be avoided,

character, motives, intentions, qualifications,

to back them up with illustrative examples

etc., as opposed to providing evidence why

c) Avoid wide gaps between subject verb and

object
d) Avoid nested modifiers
e) Avoid dangling modifiers
f)

Avoid ambiguous pronoun reference

or

abusing

the views are incorrect.

his

personality,

Legal Writing Midterm Reviewer

Appeal to Pity

it does not follow that the mean is always the

also called argumentum ad misericordiam

argues that some persons conclude or make

decisions solely on pity, and not on evidence.
The argument is fallacious in that the basis

correct position.
Slippery Slope
-

argues that once a person allows an event to

of ones decision is pity and not reason or

happen, another event will inevitably follow.

evidence.

The argument is fallacious in that there is no

objective evidence to suggest that the

Appeal to Popularity
-

second evidence will necessarily follow.

argues that a claim or idea is true simply

because more people are inclined to accept
such claim or idea.
fallacious

in that

The argument is

Straw man
-

presents an opponents position in a weak

the basis of ones

and absurd way so that it can easily be

conclusion or decision is not evidence but an

refuted. The argument is fallacious in that

external

one deliberately misrepresents or does not

factor

which

is

widespread

acceptance of a belief.

include the strong points in the others

position thereby giving the impression that

Appeal to Tradition
-

opposite of appeal to novelty

argues that the idea is necessarily better

simply because it is older, more tested and
tried because it had been used years over.
It is fallacious because age per se does not
necessarily qualify an idea to be better. Older
is not necessarily better.

Middle Ground
-

also called fallacy of moderation or the

golden mean fallacy

it happens when the arguer assumes that the

mean (or middle position) between two
extreme positions must be the correct
position. The argument is fallacious because

the arguers points are strong.