More great advice from Scribes!

I have often told my students to write simply: don't try to impress professors with fancy language, long sentences, and semi-colons. A one or two-syllable word is nearly always better than its three or four-syllable counterpart. Think of Hemingway: no one wrote more simply than he, and yet he is considered one of the best authors of all time.

But now you don't have to take my word for it: take Scribes' word for it. This is the group mentioned in my previous post, a group dedicated to improving legal writing. Here's what Scribes has to say about simple versus complex in writing:

"Writing Tip No. 47:  Simple Words, Simple Sentences

Life is complicated enough when we all use simple words we learned by high school.  Most briefs and opinions can be written with these words, and the rare need to use a more difficult word can be moderated by careful definition. Too often, attorneys and even some judges write as though their thesaurus was always at the ready to locate the more complicated synonym.
 

Even when composed of simple words, a sentence with several dozen to several hundred words is difficult to understand. Shorter sentences typically reflect a fuller, more confident understanding of the subject matter. It can't be a surprise that Federal Rule of Civil Procedure calls for "a short and plain statement of the claim." In other words, "Rule 8(a) requires parties to make their pleadings straightforward, so that judges and adverse parties need not try to fish a gold coin from a bucket of mud." Stanard v. Nygren, 658 F.3d 792, 798 (7th Cir. 2011), quoting United States ex rel. Garst v. Lockheed-Martin Corp., 328 F.3d 374, 378 (7th Cir. 2003)." 

So, there! Don't listen to me, but do listen to the wise writers at Scribes, the American Society of Legal Writers. 

Thanks to Ann Taylor Schwing 

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