Better e-mail writing can result in proposals that win contracts, get you promoted, and just get your message across to the receiver and ultimately win your case. Here are 12 tips on style and word choice that can make your legal e-mails clear and persuasive.
1. PRESENT YOUR BEST SELF
Its human nature for your moods to vary. The beauty of emails is that real time conversations , e-mails are written alone and on your own schedule. Take advantage of this and take the time to let your best personality shine through. Although it is tempting to immediately reply to an email to get it out of your inbox, a better strategy for important e-mails is to compose our answer when your time is not pressured- and especially wait if your are angry.
2. WRITE IN CLEAR CONVERSATIONAL STYLE
Most lawyer lean too much in the direct of formality and the emails tend to be long winded and stiff. The better way is go is to keep it simple. Write to express- not to impress. A relaxed conversational style can add vigor and clarity to your emails.
3. BE CONCISE
Lawyers are busy people and they charge by the hour. Make your writing less time-consuming for them to read by telling the whole story in the fewest possible words. Avoid redundancies - needless wordiness and phrases that repeat the same conference.
4. BE CONSISTENT
Good writers strive for consistency in the use of numbers, hyphens, units of measurement, punctuation, etc. Keep in mind that if you are inconsistent in any of these matters of usage, you are automatically wrong at least part of the time.
5. USE JARGON SPARINGLY
Use legitimate legal or technical terms when they communicate your ideas precisely, but avoid using legal jargon just because the words sound impressive.
6. AVOID BIG WORDS
Using big, important-sounding words instead of short, simple works is a mistake. Fancy language just frustrates the reader.
7. PREFER THE SPECIFIC TO THE GENERAL
Readers of emails want facts. Don't just say good, bad, or fast. Say how good, how bad, how fast.
8. BREAK UP YOUR WRITING INTO SHORT SECTIONS
Long, unbroken blocks of text are stumbling blocks that intimidate and bore readers. Break up your writing into short sections and short paragraphs which makes the text easier to read.
9. USE VISUALS
Drawings, graphs and other visuals can reinforce your e-mail. Especially with legal communications, visuals can make your emails more effective.
10. USE THE ACTIVE VOICE
Voice refers to the person speaking works or doing an action. Whenever possible, use the active voice. Your writing will be more direct and vigourous; your sentences will be more concise.
11. ORGANIZATION
Poor organization stems from poor planning. Before you write an email, plan. For very important emails, you should create a rough outline that spells out the contents and organization. The outline is a tool to aid your organization, not a commandment etched in stone. If you want to change it as you go along- fine.
12. LENGTH
Keep your email as short as possible. The art of being concise in your e-mail writing can require considerable effort in the rewriting and editing stage. Philosopher Blaise Pascal once wrote to a friend and apologized for sending a long letter. He said, "I would have written a shorter letter, but I didn't have the time."
