Point made : how to write like the nation's top advocates

With Point Made, legal writing expert, Ross Guberman, throws a life preserver to attorneys, who are under more pressure than ever to produce compelling prose. What is the strongest opening for a motion or brief? How to draft winning headings? How to tell a persuasive story when the record is dry and dense? The answers are "more science than art," says Guberman, who has analyzed stellar arguments by distinguished attorneys to develop step-by-step instructions for achieving the results you want. The author takes an empirical approach, drawing heavily on the writings of the nation's 50 most influential lawyers, including Barack Obama, John Roberts, Elena Kagan, Ted Olson, and David Boies. Their strategies, demystified and broken down into specific, learnable techniques, become a detailed writing guide full of practical models. In FCC v. Fox, for example, Kathleen Sullivan conjures the potentially dangerous, unintended consequences of finding for the other side (the "Why Should I Care?" technique). Arguing against allowing the FCC to continue fining broadcasters that let the "F-word" slip out, she highlights the chilling effect these fines have on America's radio and TV stations, "discouraging live programming altogether, with attendant loss to valuable and vibrant programming that has long been part of American culture."Each chapter of Point Made focuses on a typically tough challenge, providing a strategic roadmap and practical tips along with annotated examples of how prominent attorneys have resolved that challenge in varied trial and appellate briefs. Short examples and explanations with engaging titles - "Brass Tacks," "Talk to Yourself," "Russian Doll" - deliver weighty materials with a light tone, making the guidelines easy to remember and apply.In addition to all-new examples from the original 50 advocates, this Second Edition introduces eight new superstar lawyers from Solicitor General Don Verrilli, Deanne Maynard, Larry Robbins, and Lisa Blatt to Joshua Rosencranz, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Judy Clarke, and Sri Srinvasan, now a D.C. Circuit Judge. Ross Guberman also provides provocative new examples from the Affordable Care Act wars, the same-sex marriage fight, and many other recent high-profile cases. Considerably more commentary on the examples is included, along with dozens of style and grammar tips interspersed throughout. Also, for those who seek to improve their advocacy skills and for those who simply need a step-by-step guide to making a good brief better, the book concludes with an all-new set of 50 writing challenges corresponding to the 50 techniques.

• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part 1 The Theme
• 1 Brass Tacks: "Explain who, what, when, where, why, how"
• 2 The Short List: Number your path to victory
• 3 Why Should I Care? : Give the court a reason to want to find for you
• 4 Flashpoint: Draw a Line in the Sand
• Part 2 The Tale
• 5 Panoramic Shot : Set the stage and sound your theme
• 6 Show, Not Tell : Let choice details speak for themselves
• 7 Once Upon a Time : Replace dates with phrases that convey a sense of time
• 8 Headliners : Use headings to break up your fact section and to add persuasive effect
• 9 Back to Life : Center technical matter on people or entities
• Interlude: Gauging your brief's readability
• 10 Poker Face : Concede bad facts, but put them in context
• 11 End with a Bang : Leave the court with a final image or thought
• Part 3 The Meat
• Using Headings
• 12 Russian Doll: Nest your headings and subheadings
• 13 Heads I Win, Tails You Lose : Argue in the alternative
• Interlude: Love "because"Structuring the Sections
• 14 Sneak Preview : Include an umbrella paragraph before your headings and subheadings
• 15 With You in Spirit: Start Each Paragraph by Answering a Question That You Expect the Court to Have
• 16 Sound Off : Start the paragraphs with numbered reasons
• Analogizing
• 17 Long in the Tooth : Say "me too"
• 18 Peas in a Pod : Link your party with the party in the cited case
• 19 Mince Their Words : Merge pithy quoted phrases into a sentence about your own case
• 20 One Up : Claim that the case you're citing applies even more to your own dispute
• 21 Interception : Claim that a case your opponent cites helps you alone
• 22 Rebound : "Re-analogize" after the other side tries to distinguish
• Distinguishing
• 23 Not Here, Not Now : Lead with the key difference between your opponent's case and your own
• 24 One Fell Swoop : Distinguish a line of cases all at once
• 25 Not So Fast : Show that the case doesn't apply as broadly as your opponent suggests
• 26 Authority Problems : Suggest that the case deserves little respect
• Using Parentheticals
• 27 Ping Me : Introduce your parentheticals with parallel participles
• 28 Speak for Yourself : Include a single-sentence quotation
• 29 Hybrid Model : Combine participles and quotations
• Introducing Block Quotations
• 30 Lead 'Em On: Introduce Block Quotations by Explaining How They Support your Argument
• Using Footnotes
• Interlude: Citations in footnotes
• 31 Race to the Bottom : Use footnotes only in moderation to address related side points and to add support
• Part 4 The Words
• Liven Up the Language
• 32 Zingers : Colorful verbs
• 33 What a Breeze : Confident tone
• 34 Manner of Speaking : Figures of speech
• 35 That Reminds Me : Examples and analogies
• Jumpstart Your Sentences
• 36 The Starting Gate : The one-syllable opener
• 37 Size Matters : The pithy sentence
• 38 Freight Train : The balanced, elegant long sentence
• 39 Leading Parts : Two sentences joined as one
• 40 Talk to Yourself : The rhetorical question
• 41 Parallel Lives : The parallel construction
• Creative Punctuation
• 42 A Dash of Style : The dash
• Interlude: The hyphen
• 43 Good Bedfellows : The semicolon
• 44 Magician's Mark : The colon
• Seamless Flow
• 45 Take Me by the Hand: Logical Connectors
• 46 Bridge the Gap : Linked paragraphs
• Visual Appeal
• Interlude: Looking good
• 47 Join My Table : Tables and charts
• 48 Bullet Proof : Bullet points and lists
• Part 5 The Close
• The Last Word
• 49 Parting Thought : End the argument with a provocative quotation or pithy thought
• 50 Wrap-Up : Recast your main points in a separate conclusion
• Part 6 Appendices
• The Top Advocates: Biographies
• Annotated Models
• Before-and-after section from Jones v. Clinton
• Alaska v. EPA
• MercExchange v. eBay
• Fifty Writing Challenges
• Index