The Difficulties of Writing a Book
by Andrew P. Connors on January 26, 2012
I have always wanted to write a book, and now I can say that I have done it along with a great co-author. My first book, Writing for the Bar Exam, is now available for sale in both print and eBook form. It includes lots of tips and tricks that I learned from my experience of taking the Virginia Bar Exam in 2010, and my subsequent experience tutoring another person preparing for the exam. It includes a chapter on some various legal writing style and grammar tips, including a discussion of the elusive concept of passive voice, which I reviewed earlier on this site. Subsequent chapters go step-by-step through assessing a bar exam essay question and writing a complete answer.
To my surprise, I am glad I started by writing a relatively dry “how to” book. It was a good way for me to cut my teeth on a very labor-intensive process. Because I also formatted and edited the book, I learned quite a lot about the subtle nuances of using word and creating PDF documents. I will have more to say on these points regarding self-publishing. Suffice it to say, Amazon is a fantastic company to work with if you would like to self-publish a book.
Of course, this was by no means a solo effort. First and foremost, I had a fantastic co-author who was easy to work with, was as hard-working as I was, and who made significant contributions to the book that I could not have made myself. Second, I had a couple of great friends who were willing to put a significant amount of time into editing the book and providing significant feedback. Finally, I had a tremendous wife, who put up with many late nights post law school.
I hope this book makes some small contribution to improving the quality of the bar. As I have commented before, many law graduates and attorneys need to improve their writing.
Update: I’ve since written a little about my self-publishing experience.
Good Discussion from the National Law Journal
by Andrew P. Connors on November 1, 2011
I’ve run into some great commentary on emerging issues in legal education from the good folks at the National Law Journal that I thought I would share. At their new blog, Law School Review, they analyze a lot of the emerging issues in legal education I have mentioned here.
In “A Sense of Entitlement,” a law school professor suggests that the business model of the legal world is changing from big box firms offering big salaries to a model of solo or small entrepreneurship, a subject I alluded to in “Is Law School Worth It?” I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this change, although as the National Law Journal notes, it might be a perilous journey for some, especially for those graduating with high amounts of debt. In my view, however, so long as the law student chose a profession that he enjoys, that he has a natural aptitude for, and that he works hard at, I think he’ll be OK (advice which I gave before in “Notes to a Prospective Law Student.”) It will probably be a path that many graduates will have to take out of necessity, as the Law Journal rightly notes here.
If those graduates have a heart for the core and valuable aspects of their profession–namely, legal writing and oral advocacy–then they should be fine. And for those in law school currently, some things to think about…
What is Passive Voice?
by Andrew P. Connors on October 17, 2011
In my last post, I noted that passive voice should not be your “friend,” but that you should have a casual acquaintance with it. By that, I meant that you should not use passive voice often, although in some situations it is, in fact, preferable to use over active voice. This advice naturally gives rise to at least two additional questions. First, “What is passive voice?,” and second, “When is it a good idea to use passive voice?” I’ll deal with the former question in this post and leave the latter question for another day.
Passive voice is an elusive concept for many writers, especially legal writers. A sentence is in passive voice when the verb in the sentence acts upon the subject of the sentence. For example, “The man was arrested,” is written in passive voice. It often includes a form of the verb “to be.” To change the sentence to active voice, we might write, “The police arrested the man.” As you can see, by writing the sentence in active voice, the sentence has a certain immediacy to it that was absent before. Moreover, by changing the sentence to active voice, all the actors in our world that we are writing about are clearer to the reader.
I’ll explore the nuances to these concepts in the weeks to come.
Out for a Few Days
by Andrew P. Connors on October 6, 2011
Posting will be sparse the next few days as I head to Western New York for a mini-vacation. I’ll be celebrating my birthday on Sunday at Ralph Wilson Stadium as I watch the Buffalo Bills take on the Philadelphia Eagles. Go Bills!
In Legal Writing, Passive Voice is not Your Friend…
by Andrew P. Connors on October 5, 2011
…although you should have an acquaintance with it. As a professor at the Legal Skills Prof Blog notes:
The rule I teach my students is that a writer should always use the active voice unless the writer has a specific reason to use passive. For example, the passive is useful for hiding the actor, which is often useful in persuasive writing.
The more basic point is that writers should never just blindly apply the rules, but they should always consider how that rule works in context. For example, I tell my students that they should always think about every word they write to make sure that every word has the meaning and emotion intended.
I agree. As I’ve stressed before (here, here, and here), good writing is key to success in law school and in the practice of law. Purposefully avoiding passive voice will generally make your writing better. However, there are times when passive voice is not only acceptable in legal writing, but is preferable to the active voice form of the sentence. So, you shouldn’t see passive voice with such frequency in your writing that you consider it your “friend,” but a casual acquaintance with these kinds of sentences is a good idea.
