Write better faster
A recurring question I get from lawyers, law students, and other readers is how to implement the writing advice I present while working under harsh deadlines and heavy workloads. “I want to write better,” these lawyers say, “and I know the things you recommend are good. But I just don’t have the time.”
A variation of this question is this comment: “Even if I had the time, the client won’t want to pay my fee if I take the time necessary to implement all the writing techniques you recommend.”
So the ultimate question is this: “How can I write better faster?”
I decided to raise this question on my blog <blog.legalwriting.net>, and I present here the advice I usually give combined with the best ideas from real lawyers who deal with real clients and real deadlines.
Learn to compose rapidly.
Get a draft down fast by shutting out your editor or “judge.” Save editing for later. Just write, and write fast. Train yourself to type faster-75 words per minute at least. Or speak into a voice-recognition program (and accept that you’ll have to edit differently because we tend to speak differently from the way we type). If you must, compose in quiet or after work hours, away from distractions. And start composing earlier in the process.
Spend time on an outline.
A good outline, especially one that has complete sentences, will make the composing go faster. The more detailed the outline, the faster the composing will go. The better the outline, the less time you’ll have to spend re-ordering. The earlier you start the outline, the more payoff you’ll get from outlining.
Raise your writing IQ.
Attend legal-writing CLE courses, read books on legal writing, and study the best sources on English and legal usage. Your goal is to speed up both composing and editing. The more you know, the fewer writing slips you’ll make and the more time you can save on editing. Although you’ll never consider a first draft a final product, your first drafts will get better and better.
Thoroughly understand the material.
Even though it will take time up front, pay this price because it will save time during composing and editing. If you are unsure of the substantive content, your writing will suffer. Writing cannot be truly clear and effective if you don’t understand what you’re writing about.
Establish and stick to deadlines.
Use deadlines for each part of the project. Create and follow a routine for completing all major writing projects, with deadlines for researching, outlining, composing, proofreading, and editing. Create an editing checklist of everything you know you’ll need to check. As you raise your writing IQ and as you work and re-work your routine, your editing checklist will get shorter.
Stop making excuses.
Don’t blame your mediocre writing on short deadlines or heavy workloads. Find a way to make the time to revise extensively; revising is the only way to make mediocre writing good. Work late, work weekends, or eat the hours if you think the client won’t pay. Even decline projects if you must. But do the work necessary to produce a well-polished product. If you do it right every time, you’ll get faster at doing it right. If you never or rarely do it right, you won’t get faster.
I hope one or more of these techniques will work for you, so you can write better faster.
Wayne Schiess
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
A variation of this question is this comment: “Even if I had the time, the client won’t want to pay my fee if I take the time necessary to implement all the writing techniques you recommend.”
So the ultimate question is this: “How can I write better faster?”
I decided to raise this question on my blog <blog.legalwriting.net>, and I present here the advice I usually give combined with the best ideas from real lawyers who deal with real clients and real deadlines.
Learn to compose rapidly.
Get a draft down fast by shutting out your editor or “judge.” Save editing for later. Just write, and write fast. Train yourself to type faster-75 words per minute at least. Or speak into a voice-recognition program (and accept that you’ll have to edit differently because we tend to speak differently from the way we type). If you must, compose in quiet or after work hours, away from distractions. And start composing earlier in the process.
Spend time on an outline.
A good outline, especially one that has complete sentences, will make the composing go faster. The more detailed the outline, the faster the composing will go. The better the outline, the less time you’ll have to spend re-ordering. The earlier you start the outline, the more payoff you’ll get from outlining.
Raise your writing IQ.
Attend legal-writing CLE courses, read books on legal writing, and study the best sources on English and legal usage. Your goal is to speed up both composing and editing. The more you know, the fewer writing slips you’ll make and the more time you can save on editing. Although you’ll never consider a first draft a final product, your first drafts will get better and better.
Thoroughly understand the material.
Even though it will take time up front, pay this price because it will save time during composing and editing. If you are unsure of the substantive content, your writing will suffer. Writing cannot be truly clear and effective if you don’t understand what you’re writing about.
Establish and stick to deadlines.
Use deadlines for each part of the project. Create and follow a routine for completing all major writing projects, with deadlines for researching, outlining, composing, proofreading, and editing. Create an editing checklist of everything you know you’ll need to check. As you raise your writing IQ and as you work and re-work your routine, your editing checklist will get shorter.
Stop making excuses.
Don’t blame your mediocre writing on short deadlines or heavy workloads. Find a way to make the time to revise extensively; revising is the only way to make mediocre writing good. Work late, work weekends, or eat the hours if you think the client won’t pay. Even decline projects if you must. But do the work necessary to produce a well-polished product. If you do it right every time, you’ll get faster at doing it right. If you never or rarely do it right, you won’t get faster.
I hope one or more of these techniques will work for you, so you can write better faster.
Wayne Schiess
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
Great post.
Wayne says:
Thank you
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Excellent post. Putting together a good outline is key. I usually spend about 1/3 of my time on any brief organizing the key points into a logical order. In the last year, I've been able to cut about 10 hours from every brief.
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