Judge Robert Bacharach of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals and his book Legal Writing. Courtesy photos A Federal Appellate Judge Who Embraces Simple Language and 'Thwacks' Legalese
"I just think that it's a myth—that many of us have now dispelled—that we're writing for some far more sophisticated audience that has to have a law degree to understand it," says Tenth Circuit Judge Robert Bacharach, who has a new book out on legal writing that draws lessons from the field of psycholinguistics.
June 28, 2021 at 07:30 AM
8 minute read
My gig definitely has its upsides.
The week before last I got to talk shop about writing with U.S. Circuit Judge Robert Bacharach of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. The judge has a new book out titled "Legal Writing: A Judge's Perspective on the Science and Rhetoric of the Written Word." It draws on the work of great orators including Winston Churchill and Martin Luther King Jr., as well as lessons from psycholinguistics, the cross-disciplinary field that studies how people pick up and use language. The book includes some handy features, including about 15 pages filled with examples of vivid verbs that can grab a reader's attention. (My personal favorite: Doom. The judge's: Thwack.)
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