Graduates’ books offer tips for practitioners
Two new books by Michigan Law
graduates offer solid how-tos for
practicing law and avoiding the trap of
writing the obtuse prose disparaged as
legalese.
In The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing
Law (American Bar Association, 2006),
Mark Hermann, ’83, offers solid tips
wrapped in good humor in chapters
like How to Fail as an Associate, How to
Enter Time so that Clients will Pay for
It, and Dress for Success.And in Lifting
the Fog of Legalese: Essays on Plain Language
(Carolina Academic Press, 2006),
Thomas M. Cooley Law School Professor
Joseph Kimble, ’72, offers suggestions
for clear writing and provides working
examples of turgid, repetitive legal
writing and how it can be—and in many
cases was—improved.
These volumes are slim—Curmudgeon
is 140 pages, Lifting the Fog 200 pages—
and each easily packs into a laptop or
overnight bag. It’s easy to imagine one
or both quickly becoming dog-eared and
well-traveled.
Hermann, a partner with the inter-
national firm Jones Day in Cleveland,
uses his curmudgeonly approach to offer
blunt advice that can be helpful to new
and longtime practitioners alike. On
taking depositions, for example:
“When you ask questions at deposi-
tions, remember that those questions
are likely to be read later at trial. Many
lawyers seem to forget this. At trial, we
typically go out of our way to speak like
just plain folks.We abandon the elevated
diction that we use in the ordinary
course of our lives, and we substitute
two-bit words for the dollar-fifty ones
that we regularly use.Thus, at trial, many
lawyers will choose to ask,‘When you
signed page three, did you know that this
was a done deal?’ instead of,‘By affixing
your signature to the contract, did you
understand that contract formation
thereby occurred?’
“That’s good strategy.You can’t
sound like a jerk in front of a jury. But
remember, your deposition questions
are also likely to be read to the jury. It
doesn’t do much good to sound like
an or