Bryan Garner on Words

86 ABA Journal Bryan Garner on Words articles.

Good headings show you’ve thought out your arguments well in advance

The most important part of a brief? That depends on whom you ask. Some say the issue statements. Others say page 1 (which ought to amount to the same thing).…

Sep 1, 2015 6:00 AM CDT

The Bluebook’s 20th edition prompts many musings from Bryan Garner

About 10 years ago, I was finishing a book for a friend of mine in London, the late Sir Robert Megarry, when in his mid-90s his health began to fail.…

Aug 1, 2015 6:45 AM CDT

Word choice influences the way jurors understand your argument

Feb 1, 2015 2:20 AM CST

Bryan Garner offers a Magna Carta style guide

The Library of Congress has staged a magnificent exhibit on Magna Carta and its history. It is, after all, the 800th anniversary of the Great Charter of 1215. To…

Jan 1, 2015 5:52 AM CST

How are your punctuation skills? Try this comparison exercise to find out

My fellow lawyers often bristle when I tell them that, on the whole, our profession can't punctuate. It's rare that I don't have to change commas, colons or hyphens in…

Dec 1, 2014 4:40 AM CST

Regaining the Joy of Reading

At a law firm retreat, a partner approached me during a break. She had a problem she hoped I could solve: "I can't read anymore. I've lost the ability. I…

Nov 1, 2014 5:50 AM CDT

10 Tips for Better Legal Writing

Oct 1, 2014 3:00 AM CDT

Bryan Garner on legal neologisms and how ‘Black’s Law Dictionary’ keeps up (podcast with transcript)

Podcast Transcript

Stephanie Francis Ward: Language is a living thing. New words and phrases—or even grammatical shifts—mean that a lexicographer’s work is never truly complete.

Bryan A. Garner: Our to-do…

Jul 7, 2014 1:30 PM CDT