U.S. Supreme Court
Scalia Airs Pet Peeves at Texas Bar Meeting
Posted Jun 29, 2009, 08:14 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia warned lawyers to avoid Latin words, legal jargon and clichés in a meeting of the State Bar of Texas on Friday.
Scalia said lawyers writing briefs should be sparing in their use of italics, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports. "If you’re constantly italicizing words, it sort of reads like a high school girl’s diary," he said.
And during oral arguments, lawyers should avoid words they can’t pronounce, Scalia said. "You’re inclined to think this person is not the sharpest pencil in the box," Scalia said. "I’ve listened to lawyers who have sent five kids to college on nuclear power and still can’t say the name right. It’s nuclear. Nuclear."
More advice from Scalia: Keep sentences short and clear: "Just make it simple and tell us your point. Your job is to make a complex case simple, not a simple case complex."
Scalia spoke with legal writing guru Bryan Garner, who co-wrote a book with the Supreme Court justice called Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges. Scalia and Garner spoke with the ABA Journal in an interview published in May.
Additional coverage:
Dallas Morning News: “Antonin Scalia advises lawyers on effective legal writing in Dallas”
Texas Lawyer: “Scalia Discusses Conjunctions, Contractions and Pet Peeves at Texas Bar Event”
Comments not appearing after a few seconds? Try emptying your cache ("Temporary Internet files"), making sure Javascript is activated, and refresh this page.