Get to the Point

Sometimes you need to translate English to American. Expressions lawyers may encounter.

You are communicating because you want your message to be effective. Condescending phrases like "You follow?" undermine that aim.

Take advantage of Find and Replace as part of the last once-over for that important letter, contract or brief.

Using jargon can alienate outsiders, including judges. But is there ever a good reason to use it?

Parties frequently use terms incorrectly, and that leads to miscommunication.

The bottom line is that “coequal” means “equal.”

Advocates frequently confuse “implicit” and “explicit” in writing and particularly in oral argument.

You may be called on to write an obituary on behalf of your firm. Consider what the decedent would want people to know.

To avoid putting the proverbial keyboard in your mouth, do not use words or phrases until you are 100 percent certain of the meaning.

No, we don't mean your words go into the garbage. A tipsy vocabulary may enrich your communications. In the right case, soused language can be spot-on.