A visit to Young Authors Conference
I was invited to a Young Authors Conference at an elementary school. It was a big deal to me because they have children's book authors, poets, songwriters, journalists, and screenwriters--the people we typically think of as writers. So I was flattered to be asked because, although all lawyers know that lawyers do a lot of writing, some people might not know that. Plus I've written 4 books, and I was gratified to see that the organizers knew that. Of course, the lead organizer is a friend, and I told her I had written 4 books, so . . .
Anyway, I told the students in my two sessions about the 3 types of legal writing lawyers do: explanation, persuasion, and rules. Then we tried to write a law about "no cars in the park," with a statement of the law's purpose, the text of the law, and a statement of the consequences. I thought it went very well, and today I received thank-you notes, which, of course, they were required to write. Still, some of them are just great. You might enjoy some excerpts.
And my favorite:
Anyway, I told the students in my two sessions about the 3 types of legal writing lawyers do: explanation, persuasion, and rules. Then we tried to write a law about "no cars in the park," with a statement of the law's purpose, the text of the law, and a statement of the consequences. I thought it went very well, and today I received thank-you notes, which, of course, they were required to write. Still, some of them are just great. You might enjoy some excerpts.
Thank you for teaching me about lawyer stuff. Probably I might become a lawyer after I retire from making movies.
Thank you Wayne Schiess. It was cool listening to how you wrote laws. Thank you. P.S. Are you going to be here next year?
I would like to thank you for all the work you gave us. Now I feel more smart.
Young Authors Conference was sooooo much fun doing it with you. I liked it a lot. Thank you for doing so much. You were funny. I liked you a lot. I enjoyed it a lot.
And my favorite:
Thank you for teaching me about legal writing and about laws and what they do. P.S. Thank you for coming, and it was not boring.
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