Writing Matters
| Citation | Vol. 22 No. 1 Pg. 0076 |
| Pages | 0076 |
| Publication year | 2016 |
Writing Really Does Matter
Chances are, you won't be disbarred because you're a weak writer, but be careful, a misplaced comma could lead to a malpractice suit.
BY KAREN J. SNEDDON AND DAVID HRICIK
For almost 10 years now, we've been providing guidance, tips, examples and otherwise discussed in this column ways to improve your writing. We think it's self-evident, but in this installment of "Writing Matters," we're going to remind you why, well, writing matters.
It should be obvious why writing matters: lawyers must represent their clients competently. This core ethical duty is codified in the Georgia Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct. Among other things, competency requires that a lawyer bring to bear on a matter "the legal knowledge, skill, thoroughness and preparation reasonably necessary for the representation."[1]In Georgia, a breach of the duty of competency can result in disbarment.[2]
Writing Matters in Litigation
Do courts actually discipline lawyers for poor legal writing? Without looking very hard, we found that they have. Indeed, now-justice then-judge Sotomayor served on an appellate panel that did so. The court held that an appellant's brief was so poorly written that it referred the lawyer to the court's grievance committee for further review.[3]
But obviously, courts are not likely to actually discipline lawyers for being weak writers.
Even so, writing still matters: a lawyer's failure to competently present his client's case can result in harm to the client, the lawyer and the courts. One court, for example, characterized the lawyer's brief on appeal as "worthless."[4] Another
court recognized that by "submitting a poorly written brief, the attorney fails the court as well as the client."[5]
Writing matters even for lawyers who are motivated solely by self-interest. Having a court write an opinion noting that a brief was "devoid of clarity and rife with spelling errors, grammatical miscues, poor formatting, and questionable quotations,"[6] is hardly going to cause clients to beat a path to a lawyer's door.
Writing Matters in Transactional Work
Some lawyers refer to their colleagues who write contracts, trusts, separation agreements and other legal documents as doing "pre-litigation" work. They write the documents that the litigators get to poke at and find fault with. Litigators enjoy that game!
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