Telling Your Story: Effective Advocacy in Legal Writing

In this program, Frederick "Rick" Alimonti shares his thoughts on effective legal writing from the perspective of an attorney, mediator, and published author.

Is your writing organized, interesting, and, ideally, compelling? Rick Alimonti takes on various aspects of legal writing, from such basics as an organization to weaving an effective story, creating a plot, building tension, and harkens back to basic principles of logic/"logos," ethics/"ethos" and passion/"pathos."

What is a "hierarchy of authority" in building your argument? How does one best deal with adverse authority? What is best argued with upfront or held for a reply? What can Lincoln's Gettysburg Address teach us about composing the perfect argument?

Learning Objectives:

1. Write facts that call out for the relief you are seeking

2. Identify and cut dead wood from your legal writing and keep only what you need

3. Seize and keep the initiative in the briefing – by keeping it proactive, not reactive

4. Utilize techniques of plot and story-telling to write compelling narratives

5. Make your writing user-friendly with a "one-stop shopping" brief

6. Predict defenses by taking a devil's advocate's approach to your writing and particularly your conclusions