The Power of Plain Language: Say Less, Win More (Part 2) | Justia Webinars

Learn to communicate and advocate more effectively at this advanced legal writing program. You will learn principles of plain language writing and document design to prepare persuasive, concise, and well-supported legal briefs and memoranda.

Join us so you can acquire the tools to:

Make your writing clear, concise, and persuasive
Strengthen your legal briefs and memoranda
Improve your advocacy

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00:00 Introduction
08:50 Clarity and Sentence Length
25:20 Document Design and Typography
41:30 Organization and TRIAC
51:50 Language Change and Inclusive Pronouns
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Agenda

Recap of Part 1
Review The Power of Plain Language: Say Less, Win More (Part 1)

Writing Clearly, Continued
Tools to write clearly, continued
Prefer concrete subjects
Choose words precisely
Shorten sentences

Document Design — How a Document Looks Is As Important as What It Says
Tools to make your document more appealing
Typeface (font choice)
Alignment
White space
Caveat — always follow court rules

Organization and Advanced Strategies in Editing
Organization — effective paragraphs using TREAC
Advanced strategies in editing

Language Change and Inclusive Pronouns
Changing role of traditional grammar rules
Use of inclusive pronouns
How to write clearly with inclusive pronouns

Final Thoughts — Is Writing Well Worth the Effort?

Questions & Answers

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Speaker


Kathleen Dillon Narko
Clinical Professor
Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law
https://connect.justia.com/webinars/s...

Professor Kathleen Dillon Narko is a Clinical Professor of Law at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. She has taught legal writing since 1999, and her legal writing columns appear in the Chicago Bar Association’s flagship publication, the CBA Record. Professor Narko has over 25 years’ experience teaching a variety of legal writing courses, including Communication and Legal Reasoning (for first-year JD students), Common Law Reasoning (for international LLM students), and Advanced Legal Writing (for upper-class law students).

Professor Narko has presented at national legal writing conferences with the Legal Writing Institute and the Association of Legal Writing Directors, the two major academic legal writing organizations. She is a sought-after speaker and writing coach. She has trained judges, judicial clerks, government attorneys, and practicing lawyers. She has presented an Advanced Legal Writing seminar at the Chicago Bar Association annually since 2002. It continues to be one of the most popular, highly rated Continuing Legal Education programs in CBA history. She was one of five experts selected to present in the American Bar Association’s Law Library of Congress’s program on legal writing. Her presentation will remain in the collection of the Law Library of Congress. She is a national authority on effective legal writing.

Prior to joining academia, Professor Narko developed her litigation expertise with an international law firm based in Chicago. She established a reputation as a strong writer within the firm and was the primary author of briefs to state and federal courts. She has state and federal court trial experience and has maintained her connections with the practicing bar. Professor Narko’s academic prowess is rooted in her practitioner experience.

Kathleen Dillon Narko received her J.D. from Cornell University, where she was an articles editor for the Cornell International Law Journal. She received her B.A. cum laude from Yale University.

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