Bryan Garner on Words

Good legal writers use AI as an amplifier, not an author

By a strange twist of history, baby boomers—the generation once ridiculed for technophobia—have become the loudest evangelists for artificial intelligence in law and business. They fill LinkedIn with tales of efficiency, celebrating how easily artificial intelligence turns rough notes into finished drafts and reports. To them, it feels like long-earned liberation from tedium.

Feb 19, 2026 2:13 PM CST

Should the bottom line be up front? Only with context, Bryan Garner says

Many lawyers have eagerly adopted the buzzword “BLUF”—bottom line up front—as if invoking the acronym were synonymous with careful thinking. The catch is that almost no one stops to ask the important question: What exactly is meant by “bottom line”? The answer isn’t obvious, and it shifts with context.

Jan 27, 2026 12:54 PM CST

Prompting Prose: When used correctly, AI in legal writing can be a useful tool

Although we hear a lot of talk about artificial intelligence, a large segment of the legal profession knows little about it and hasn’t tried it. Some bemoan this technological revolution, fearing it will cause human skills to shrivel. My own conviction is that whatever harm bad actors might do with it, in good hands, it’s a tool that can benefit people. For the lawyer, it’s like having a superb assistant who is remarkably efficient.

Jan 1, 2026 1:00 AM CST

Bryan Garner on the problem of time-toggling

Lawyers often make their prose harder to follow than it needs to be. One of the worst culprits is time-toggling—those unannounced leaps from present to past, from recent to remote, from actual to hypothetical.

Nov 17, 2025 9:12 AM CST

Bryan Garner on Gouverneur Morris, the Constitution’s stylist‑in‑chief

The 18th century gave the Western world revolutions of every sort—scientific, political, linguistic—and in America, it gave rise to the most consequential style debate in the nation’s history. The argument was not about punctuation but about the very texture of statehood: what it meant to commit a nation’s founding to paper.

Oct 22, 2025 11:55 AM CDT

Bryan Garner: If your client’s case has bad facts, how can you present them in the best possible light?

Like everyone else, lawyers sometimes find themselves in extremis. A dire circumstance may call for an extreme argument—the classic last-ditch, desperate appeal. The ultimate test is whether the argument wins the day. Typically, the far-fetched argument doesn’t.

Oct 1, 2025 1:20 AM CDT

What does Bryan Garner think of artificial intelligence?

Although we hear a lot of talk about AI, a large segment of the legal profession knows little about it and hasn’t tried it. My own conviction is that whatever harm bad actors might do with it, in good hands it’s a tool that can benefit people.

Sep 22, 2025 3:07 PM CDT

Oscar vs. Jeff: Trial lawyers and appellate counsel do different jobs, and it may show in their writing

Two firms are collaborating on a brief for Julius Joints Inc. Oscar and his team were trial counsel, and the client wants Oscar, who has represented Julius for years, to stay on through the appeal. Jeff’s firm, an appellate boutique, has been hired as lead counsel for the matter.

Aug 1, 2025 1:05 AM CDT

In legal writing, consistency matters

You want your readers focusing on the content of what you say, not on curiosities of spelling or inconsistencies in your own style.

Jun 1, 2025 2:00 AM CDT

Right Writing: Can you pass this grammar test?

The mechanical fixes that copy editors make aren’t just matters of opinion: They’re clear-cut matters of right and wrong involving blunders in grammar, punctuation and word choice. To test your copy editing knowledge, I’ve collected 15 passages that have two mechanical errors apiece.

Apr 1, 2025 1:50 AM CDT

When editing, good direction makes everyone’s life easier

In any office, good editing should be encouraged and viewed as professional and friendly. It benefits everyone.

Feb 1, 2025 1:35 AM CST

Bryan Garner’s 2024 legal writing tips

This year, Bryan Garner gave us typography tutelage, the lexicographer rule and a quiz to test your vocabulary. Here's the full wrap-up of 2024 columns by the Black's Law Dictionary's editor-in-chief.

Dec 23, 2024 8:42 AM CST

When writing motions and briefs, typography matters

Of all the easily fixed bad habits that pervade legal writing, perhaps none is more perniciously persistent than some brief-writers’ insistence on capitalizing each word of point headings.

Dec 1, 2024 1:50 AM CST

Guard against poor legal research with these 3 writing practices

“Not long ago, the partners at a law firm told me of an embarrassingly disastrous trial. … They wanted to know whether I knew of ways to prevent this type of problem. The answer is a qualified yes: While there are no panaceas, certain protocols can minimize the risks of suboptimal research. Here are the three crucial points.”

Oct 1, 2024 2:10 AM CDT

Lawyers as Explainers: Remember, you are writing for intelligent people

As professional workers with words, lawyers above all must be good explainers. The basic approach of expert explainers is to say what would need to be said clearly, simply and pleasantly to a small mixed audience of intelligent people. You think all this is obvious? It’s not. The qualities we’re discussing here aren’t commonplace. They’re rare.

Aug 1, 2024 1:40 AM CDT