Appellate advocacy is hard work. In some ways, the need for effort is obvious. Of course you have to put in the hours on each case learning the facts, researching the law, drafting and editing the briefs; of course you’re more likely to win if you outwork the other side.
But working hard on each case isn’t enough, not nearly. You also have to work hard on the skills of appellate advocacy, especially writing. Most of us don’t, and don’t even see the need. We’re like legal-writing professor Wayne Schiess:
When I was a full-time practicing lawyer, I thought I was a good writer. I believed I was above average within the profession. Now I see that I was quite mediocre, that I was poorly educated about the standards of high-level professional writing, and that I was ignorant of my own limitations.
Bryan Garner is right: “If you think you’re quite good . . . it’s probably a delusion.”
My own journey from self-satisfied to alarmed to improving has been helped along by books. The 3 most helpful to me:
- Style, by Joseph M. Williams
- Writing Persuasive Briefs, by Girvan Peck
- The Writing Life, by Annie Dillard
Most such lists would include Strunk & White and Garner’s The Winning Brief. And any good CA3 enthusiast also would recommend Aldisert‘s glorious Winning on Appeal.
Appellate lawyers are professional writers. Time we acted like it.