Today marks the second installment of our three-part series from Legal Writing Pro's Ross Guberman. In case you missed Part 1, you can find it here. As I mentioned yesterday, Ross is the author of Point Made: How to Write Like the Nation’s Top Advocates. Today Ross talks about his next book, which will focus on how to write like some of the top judges from around the world. Here is our Q&A:
It's my understanding that your next book will discuss how to write like the nation's best judges. Who is on your short list of the nation’s best judges and how did you go about selecting them?
This next book has been a fun project, though I’m not as far along as I would have hoped. The book will have an international spin, so I’ll be looking at English courts, the Canadian Supreme Court, the European Union, and even the Japanese Supreme Court in translation.
My criteria: opinions that are both clear and engaging from judges of some national or international prominence.
Here in the States, I will include many familiar names on the Supreme Court, both past and present. On the lower courts, I will likely include the Ninth Circuit’s Chief Judge Kozinksi as well as Judges Posner and Easterbrook on the Seventh Circuit and their colleague Judge Diane Wood. I have also become a fan of Judge Neil Gorsuch on the Tenth Circuit, and of the late Richard Arnold of the Eighth Circuit.
On the district courts, I have been impressed by Judge Jed Rakoff in New York. I would love any recommendations from your readers, particularly for judges on the lower courts or state courts: just email me at ross@legalwritingpro.com!
Stay tuned for tomorrow's third and final installment, in which Ross and I discuss everything from how the Supreme Court selects its cases to how Charlie Sheen can help you remember when to use an Oxford comma.
