This CLE program (“Striving for Clarity”) will discuss steps to achieve clarity in legal writing. The presenter, Judge Bob Bacharach, will draw on examples from psycholinguistics, oratory, and advocacy to illustrate techniques to enhance clarity in legal writing.

The main topics will involve:

• creating context before detail,
• using simple language,
• linking the information in your sentences, and
• conveying the information in manageable chunks.

In discussing the creation of context, Judge Bacharach will illustrate how to draft a meaningful introduction, use topic sentences, and maximize the effectiveness of headings. The discussion on diction will draw from empirical studies on how the use of simple languages promotes comprehension. In discussing how to link sentences, Judge Bacharach shows how references to familiar information can enhance understanding on the part of the reader. Lastly, Judge Bacharach will address how legal writers can enhance clarity by breaking information into manageable chunks. Through these steps, Judge Bacharach’s program is designed to help practitioners, judges, and students enhance the clarity of their legal writing.