Some common problems in legal writing--a series, part 6: Punctuation
Part 6: Punctuation
Part 6a: Hyphenating phrasal adjectives
Professional writers hyphenate adjectives that jointly modify a noun. The practice is not as common in legal writing as it should be, given that lawyers are professional writers. Generally, omitting the hyphen from a phrasal adjective will only sometimes cause confusion, but including it will never cause confusion.
For example, these phrases, if not hyphenated, will rarely cause confusion for a lawyer. Still, better writers use the hyphen.
Adequate
business judgment rule
legal writing course
toxic tort litigation
Better
business-judgment rule
legal-writing course
toxic-tort litigation
More examples. Again, better writers use the hyphen.
Adequate
court made rule
brief like mediation statement
corporate transaction document
Better
court-made rule
brief-like mediation statement
corporate-transaction document
Wayne Schiess
Director of Legal Writing | The University of Texas School of Law | Website | Seminars | Articles | Books: Preparing Legal Documents Nonlawyers Can Read and Understand
| Better Legal Writing
| Writing for the Legal Audience
| The Legal Memo: A Basic Guide
Part 6a: Hyphenating phrasal adjectives
Professional writers hyphenate adjectives that jointly modify a noun. The practice is not as common in legal writing as it should be, given that lawyers are professional writers. Generally, omitting the hyphen from a phrasal adjective will only sometimes cause confusion, but including it will never cause confusion.
For example, these phrases, if not hyphenated, will rarely cause confusion for a lawyer. Still, better writers use the hyphen.
Adequate
business judgment rule
legal writing course
toxic tort litigation
Better
business-judgment rule
legal-writing course
toxic-tort litigation
More examples. Again, better writers use the hyphen.
Adequate
court made rule
brief like mediation statement
corporate transaction document
Better
court-made rule
brief-like mediation statement
corporate-transaction document
Wayne Schiess
Director of Legal Writing | The University of Texas School of Law | Website | Seminars | Articles | Books: Preparing Legal Documents Nonlawyers Can Read and Understand
| Better Legal Writing
| Writing for the Legal Audience
| The Legal Memo: A Basic Guide
Posted by Wayne Schiess at 4/28/2009 8:28 AM 
Categories: Improvement,Grammar and Punctuation,Law Practice
Categories: Improvement,Grammar and Punctuation,Law Practice
Thank you for pointing this out. Why don't writers use the hyphen? I would say 90% of legal writers do not use it.
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This is good stuff. Whenever I see a lawyer hyphenating phrasal adjectives, I'm impressed.
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