Ross Guberman > Quotes

“What logical questions might occur to a reader who is skeptical of your reasoning, and in what order? Answer those questions one at a time with just a sentence or two apiece.”
― Ross Guberman, Point Taken: How to Write Like the World's Best Judges

“the challenge is to make order out of chaos: “The brief writer must immerse himself in this chaos of detail and bring order to it by organizing—and I cannot stress that term enough—by organizing, organizing, and organizing, so that the brief is a coherent presentation of the arguments in favor of the writer’s clients.”1”
― Ross Guberman, Point Made: How to Write Like the Nation's Top Advocates

“These short “umbrella” passages help the reader digest what’s already been presented and then fit it into a framework that will help process what’s to come. The best examples summarize each party’s arguments and then highlight the question that the court needs to decide next.”
― Ross Guberman, Point Taken: How to Write Like the World's Best Judges

“numbered reasons should answer a single question—“Why should I believe you on that point?”—in discrete ways.”
― Ross Guberman, Point Taken: How to Write Like the World's Best Judges

“What is the general rule? How does it operate in practice? What does it mean in this case?—predicting reader questions is all the more important when you’re addressing an issue with spare or conflicting precedent, relying heavily on policy arguments, or reaching a decision that many will find counterintuitive or distasteful.”
― Ross Guberman, Point Taken: How to Write Like the World's Best Judges

“Note, too, the unorthodox yet highly effective technique of speaking directly to the reader in the second person: “consider,” “consider,” “consider,” and “consider.” Though switching to “it bears mention” in the fifth reason does mar the pattern a bit.”
― Ross Guberman, Point Taken: How to Write Like the World's Best Judges

“When Chief Justice John Roberts was an advocate, he once wrote that determining the “best” technology for controlling air pollution is like asking people to pick the “best” car: Mario Andretti may select a Ferrari; a college student a Volkswagen Beetle; a family of six a mini-van. A Minnesotan’s choice will doubtless have four-wheel drive; a Floridian’s might well be a convertible. The choices would turn on how the decisionmaker weighed competing priorities such as cost, mileage, safety, cargo space, speed, handling, and so on. I have shared this passage with lawyers all over the world. “Brilliant,” exclaim some. “Look how he gets his point across,” say others. But they all agree on one thing: “Writing like that is an art.” This book will reveal the craft behind that art. I am convinced that if you learn why the best advocates write the way they do, you can import those same techniques into your own work.”
― Ross Guberman, Point Made: How to Write Like the Nation's Top Advocates

“As I pointed out in Part 1, when judges write the opening paragraphs of their opinions, they face three decisions: how much detail they want to provide, how much of their ultimate conclusion they want to reveal, and how much effort they want to devote to engaging readers from the outset.”
― Ross Guberman, Point Taken: How to Write Like the World's Best Judges

“Simulating a dialogue with an imaginary reader can help resolve many common organizational problems, because it will prompt you to address points and counterpoints in the order that they’re likely to arise in the reader’s mind.”
― Ross Guberman, Point Taken: How to Write Like the World's Best Judges

“Op-Ed Practice Pointers •  Lead off with a short and memorable opening line. •  Narrate the factual and procedural context. •  Introduce the parties and juxtapose their competing legal positions. •  Conclude with a sentence or paragraph summarizing the result and offering at least one reason in support.”
― Ross Guberman, Point Taken: How to Write Like the World's Best Judges

“these three judicial fears: 1. The fear of misconstruing a doctrine or statute. 2. The fear of creating new duties, rules, or defenses. 3. The fear of reaching an unfair result or causing harm.”
― Ross Guberman, Point Made: How to Write Like the Nation's Top Advocates

“As one commentator has noted, “[t]‌he more impressive and useful introductions are thoughtful essays in which the judges identify the issue to be resolved in broader historical and philosophical legal contexts.”
― Ross Guberman, Point Taken: How to Write Like the World's Best Judges

“Is your answer to any question likely to prove controversial? If so, acknowledge all viable counterarguments (“To be sure,” “Although it is true that,” and so forth) and then explain why they should not prevail. You now have the makings of a first-rate analysis.”
― Ross Guberman, Point Taken: How to Write Like the World's Best Judges

“The main trait that makes judicial opinions easy to follow is that they are structured as more of a dialogue than a monologue: the best judicial writers preempt and then answer questions from an imaginary reader, and perhaps a skeptical one to boot.”
― Ross Guberman, Point Taken: How to Write Like the World's Best Judges

“In the first place, it is axiomatic that general words in a statute are not to be read in a way which “would overthrow fundamental principles, infringe rights, or depart from the general system of law, without expressing its intention with irresistible clearness”.”
― Ross Guberman, Point Taken: How to Write Like the World's Best Judges

“Start paragraphs with a central point that the rest of the paragraph develops.”
― Ross Guberman, Point Taken: How to Write Like the World's Best Judges

“Anticipating reader questions in the order they’re likely to occur is a great way both to organize an opinion and to ensure that you’ve tagged all the bases when reaching a decision that’s likely to prove controversial.”
― Ross Guberman, Point Taken: How to Write Like the World's Best Judges

“In the end, then, the best advocates appear to sense that judges have predictable questions when reading a section: 1. What’s the standard? 2. How does it apply in cases like this one? 3. Which courts have done what you’re asking us to do—and why? 4. What about the other side’s points? 5. What’s the bottom line?”
― Ross Guberman, Point Made: How to Write Like the Nation's Top Advocates

“The key to analogizing authorities is to avoid two temptations: First, the temptation to declare that an authority applies without ferreting out the key facts that link the case you’re citing with the one you’re adjudicating. And second, on the other extreme, the temptation to regurgitate facts and quotes from an authority without introduction or explanation, forcing the reader to do all the analytical work in your stead.”
― Ross Guberman, Point Taken: How to Write Like the World's Best Judges

“ood legal writing does not sound as though it was written by a lawyer. Good legal writing, like good writing in general, is writing that keeps the readers’ interests foremost.13”
― Ross Guberman, Point Made: How to Write Like the Nation's Top Advocates

“As I suggested above, a good opinion writer should follow their lead: imagine talking to a reader—and not necessarily one of the parties—while predicting and then answering questions.”
― Ross Guberman, Point Taken: How to Write Like the World's Best Judges

“Incidentally, take a cue from Holmes’s “We do not go into further details.” It’s appropriate, and even desirable, to let the reader know that you’re screening out noise to highlight signal,”
― Ross Guberman, Point Taken: How to Write Like the World's Best Judges

“As Chekhov famously put it, “If you say in the first chapter that there is a revolver on the mantel, it absolutely must go off by the second or third chapter.”
― Ross Guberman, Point Taken: How to Write Like the World's Best Judges

“As Chief Justice William Rehnquist once said, the challenge is to make order out of chaos: “The brief writer must immerse himself in this chaos of detail and bring order to it by organizing—and I cannot stress that term enough—by organizing, organizing, and organizing, so that the brief is a coherent presentation of the arguments in favor of the writer’s clients.”1”
― Ross Guberman, Point Made: How to Write Like the Nation's Top Advocates