Write On!

• Publication year: 2023
• Citation: Vol. 46 No. 6 Pg. 62
• Pages: 62

Write On! Vol. 46 No. 6 Pg. 62 Wyoming Bar Journal December 2023

Michael R. Smith

Michael R. Smith is a Professor of Law at the University of Wyoming College of Law and the Director of the Center for the Study of Written Advocacy.

Road Maps in Legal Writing

The analysis communicated in legal writing can be very complex and confusing. Consequently, effective legal writers employ a number of techniques for carrying the reader through the discussion to prevent the reader from getting lost in the morass of information. One such technique is the use of "road maps." A road map is placed at the beginning of a given discussion to provide a reader with the large-scale structure of the discussion that will follow. That is, a road map orients the reader and allows the reader to anticipate the organization of the analysis to come.

We can see an example of the effective use of road maps in legal writing in the following excerpt from Wyoming Supreme Court Justice...