In this episode, I speak with legal writing authority, and professional treasure Bryan Garner about his most recent book, Garner's Guidelines for Drafting and Editing Contracts, published by West Academic.
Some key takeaways are:
1. Unlike most legal writing, contract writing is about the future; it guides parties about what will happen next in their relationship with each other.
2. Precision matters in contract writing. Precise writing will create unmistakably and help to avoid conflict in the future.
3. Every lawyer, regardless of the area of law in which they practice, needs a merger clause.
About our guest:
Bryan Garner is the authority on legal writing. He is the editor in chief of Black's Law Dictionary and the author of many leading works on legal style, including A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage, The Elements of Legal Writing Style, Garner's The Redbook: A Manual of Legal Style, The Winning Brief, and The Winning Oral Argument. He has co-written two books with Justice Antonin Scalia; Reading the Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts and Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges. His magnum opus is the 897-page Garner's Modern Usage Style, published by Oxford University Press. It is widely considered the preeminent authority on questions of English usage.
Prof. Garner received an Honorary LL.D. from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in 2000; a J.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1984, where he was an Associate Editor of the Texas Law Review; and a B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1980, with Special Honors in Plan II. He is President of LawProse, Inc., the foremost provider of CLE training in legal writing, editing, and drafting. His many professional activities include service on the Board of Directors of the Texas Law Review Association and on the Editorial Advisory Boards of The Copy Editor and The Green Bag, and as a consultant to the Oxford Dictionary Department in Oxford, England. Prof. Garner has received the 2005 Lifetime Achievement Award in Plain Legal Language, the 2000 Scribes Book Award for Research and Writing (for Black's Law Dictionary, 7th ed.), and the 1998 Outstanding Young Texas Ex Award, as well as many other honors and awards.
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