English Grammar and Usage
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English Grammar and Usage, Small Law Firms
Size Matters: Project X
As you can likely tell, Valerie Katz is fascinated by terminology. She understands the importance of using language to market and promote your firm. She had never thought, however, about the use of terminology within a firm until recently. The word that inspired this revelation was "project." Project is used in many ways and with multiple connotations.... -
9th Circuit, Alex Kozinski, Benchslaps, Diarmuid O'Scannlain, Federal Judges, Reader Polls
Grammer Pole of the Weak: 'I Respectfully Dissental'
Above the Law readers are traditionalists in matters of grammar, usage, and writing style. How do y'all feel about neologisms? Let's look at two new words, coined by none other than the newly svelte Alex Kozinski, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.... - Sponsored
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
How to best leverage generative AI as an early adopter with ethical use. -
English Grammar and Usage, Family Law, Non-Sequiturs, Tax Law, Technology, Unemployment
Non-Sequiturs: 09.07.11
* I thought the rule for how to cite a blog in your brief was “don’t,” but I have less use for a Bluebook than a homeless orphan (I hear kindling is hard to come by on the streets). [Adjunct Law Prof Blog] * More analysis on the mean mommy lawsuit reminds me of how […]
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Antonin Scalia, English Grammar and Usage, Gender, Reader Polls
Grammer Pole of the Weak: Gender-Neutral Language and You
Happy Friday, and welcome to the latest edition of Above the Law’s Grammer Pole of the Weak, a column where we turn questions of English grammar and usage over to our readers for discussion and debate. Last week, we discovered that 82% of our readers are willing to strangle, maim, and kill over the use […] -
English Grammar and Usage, Reader Polls
Grammer Pole of the Weak: Are You Serial with That Comma?
Welcome to Above the Law's latest Friday series: Grammer Pole of the Weak. Readers, the title of this weekly poll is supposed to be ironic. Are you serial with all of these emails correcting our spelling? Speaking of being serial, let's turn to the topic of this week's discussion: the serial comma.... -
English Grammar and Usage, Reader Polls
Grammer Pole of the Weak: It's All Right?
Here at Above the Law, we've been discussing English grammar and usage forever -- well, at least since 2006. We've now decided to formalize the discussion. Every Friday we will raise an issue of grammar, spelling, or style, in our newest ATL feature: Grammer Pole of the Weak. Today's topic: "all right" versus "alright." Let's discuss.... -
English Grammar and Usage, Reader Polls, Small Law Firms
Small Firms, Big Lawyers: A Period Piece
My overlords here at ATL thought it would be fun to run a poll about whether there should be one space or two after a period. As if these things are decided by popularity, rather than by rules. This is strange, really, because just about all of you reading this are lawyers or studying to […] -
English Grammar and Usage, Reader Polls
A Random Friday Poll: One Space or Two Between Sentences?
Members of this profession really, really like rules, especially rules about proper English grammar and usage. Be it confusion over a homophone, misuse of a hyphen, or incorrect placement of a semicolon, every grammar Nazi has a special place reserved in his heart for the idiot who screws these things up. And that is why the topic of last week's reader poll was about how many spaces one should use between sentences.... - Sponsored
Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
If 2023 introduced legal professionals to generative AI, then 2024 will be when law firms start adapting to utilize it. Things are moving fast, so… -
Drugs, English Grammar and Usage, New Jersey, Non-Sequiturs, Prisons
Non-Sequiturs: 07.28.11
* I’m standing in the middle of a desert, waiting for my ship to come in. But now no joker, no J.D. degree, can take your losing hand, and make it win; you should be leaving Las Vegas. [WSJ Law Blog] * If Miami Law could somehow figure out a way to actually do this, […] -
Associate Advice, English Grammar and Usage, Small Law Firms
Small Firms, Big Lawyers: 20 Ways to Write Like a Tool
Being a lawyer is like being a member of an elite club, but sounding like a lawyer is sometimes the same as sounding like a "tool." Small firm columnist Jay Shepherd has come up with 20 lawyerisms that do nothing to advance the message lawyers are trying to send, and do, in fact, make lawyers sound like complete tools in their writing. -
Adam Liptak, English Grammar and Usage, New York Times, Quote of the Day, SCOTUS, Supreme Court
Quote of the Day: But What's the Alternative?
I think that it’s probably wrong, in almost all situations, to use a dictionary in the courtroom. Dictionary definitions are written with a lot of things in mind, but rigorously circumscribing the exact meanings and connotations of terms is not usually one of them. — Jesse Sheidlower, editor at large of the Oxford English Dictionary, […] -
English Grammar and Usage, Small Law Firms
Small Firms, Big Lawyers: The 'Lost' Art of Hyphens
Did you watch Lost? I was a big fan of the show, which ran on ABC from 2004 to 2010. The series required quite a commitment from its viewers, since it had a large ensemble cast and was a true serial — you really couldn’t miss any episodes. After the third season, the producers made […] -
English Grammar and Usage, Reader Polls
A Random Friday Poll: 'Redline' or 'Blackline'?
On Fridays, we like to poll our readership on random subjects. Often these reader polls relate to matters of style and usage. Past polls have covered such important topics as favorite email sign-offs and whether to use “pleaded” or “pled” in legal writing. Here’s today’s topic. It’s about what to call a version of a […]
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