Progressive Writing Tips For The Persuasive New Jersey Divorce Lawyer (II)

Submitted By: Curtis J. Romanowski

Always avoid passive voice and nominalizations. Active voice sentences use a subject-verb-object construction. The subject is the actor. Because it is in the beginning of the sentence, we focus on the actor and what the actor is doing to the receiver or object.

* Lori filed a motion.

* Sam’s attorney missed the statute of limitations

Passive voice flip-flops this construction so that the receiver of the action comes first, and the verb to be precedes a past participle.

* A motion was filed by Lori.

* The statute of limitations was missed by Sam’s attorney.

Active voice is bolder and more direct than passive. In addition, passive construction waters down the verb, adds unnecessary language, and decreases readability.

Passive voice does have its place. For example, you may want to focus on the receiver of the action or shroud the actor. Politicians often use passive voice to deflect attention from their shortcomings. "Mistakes were made." This construction leaves out the actor altogether.

Finally, in addition to avoiding passive voice, you should also avoid nominalizations. Legal writers love to take robust verbs and convert them into anemic nouns:

The husband’s intention was to sue for custody. [Better: The husband intended to sue for custody].

An attempt at deceiving the wife was made by her husband. [Better: The husband attempted to deceive his wife].

Eliminating the nominalization leads to pithy, dynamic statements.

K.I.S.S.

Impress the judge with your logic rather than your multi-syllabic vocabulary. Remember, your goal is to communicate. Strive to use simple words whenever possible. Try not let yourself (or your client) sound like a cop. Use "car" or "automobile" instead of "motorized vehicle." Or better yet, if the wife was driving an SUV or a silver Nissan Sentra, say so. Don’t ever say "proceeded in a Northerly direction." Consider the following rhetorical diet plan:

Instead of: Try:

Adjacent to -> next to
Altercation -> fight, brawl
Commence -> start
Intoxicated _> drunk
Prior to -> before
Subsequent to -> after
Terminate -> end, fire
Utilize -> use

Create Visual Impact

* avoid underlining and bolding; let your writing create emphasis;

* refrain from using all capital letters in headings, or for that matter, anything you want people to read;

* add charts and diagrams when appropriate; and

* limit the number and length of footnotes.

One last comment for on fonts: Use Courier whenever possible. While Times and fonts from that family are widely used in books and newspapers for their readability, there is nothing more "in your face" than Courier. If you're reading thousands of words late at night, nothing beats Courier.

Generally, a font with serifs is more readable than a font sans serif. A New Jersey Divorce Lawyer should never use more than one serif font and one sans serif font in one writing. I recommend a bold or black sans serif font for headings and Courier for the body text.

Happy writing!

About the Author:
By Curtis J. Romanowski, Esq, New Jersey Divorce Lawyer: http://www.divorcenewjersey.com/ Voted New Jersey Super Lawyer, Family Law for the 2nd consecutive year, expert in NJ Divorce law & Child Custody Law. Link to this site when using this article.