ASSIGNMENT # 1

FINALS
LEGAL WRITING

 Omit needless words.

Basic
Delete at least four consecutive words in
the following sentences, replace those
words with just one word. You may
rephrase ideas and rearrange
sentences, but don't change the
meaning.
Rewrite this:
1. The Business Corporation Law does
not address the ability of a New York
corporation to indemnify individuals who
are not its employees.

Intermediate
Revise the sentence to make them
as lean as you can without
changing the meaning:

2. The County sent an inspector

who made observations as to the
condition of the sidewalk and
concluded that it was uneven.

Advanced
Find a wordy sentence that you can
reliably cut in half without
changing the meaning.

3. Arbitration as a means of
settling disputes was at first
viewed by the courts with much
disfavor, but today is being used
increasingly as a substitute for
litigation for the adjudication of
disputes arising out of contracts.
(37 words)

 Avoid multiple negatives.

Basic
Recast the sentence in positive
form:
4. Notice will not be effective
unless it is delivered in person or
by certified mail, return receipt
requested.

Intermediate
Recast the sentence in positive
form:
5. Bendola cannot be permitted to
stand on nothing more than
unsubstantiated and selflaudatory statements as a basis
for denying summary judgment.

Advanced
Find a sentence in published writing
that is burdened with at least two
negatives that you can easily--and
with no change in meaning--recast
in the positive.
Art. 151 of the Family Code 2nd
paragraph
6. This rule shall not apply to cases
which may not be the subject of
compromise under the Civil Code.

Use strong, precise verbs.

Minimize is, are, was, and were.

Basic
Rewrite the sentence to eliminate
the be-verbs:
(be, am, is, are, was, were, been,
has, have, had, do, did, does, can,
could, shall, should, will, would,
may, might, must)
7. Jones is in agreement with
Smith.

Intermediate
Rewrite the passage to eliminate
the be-verbs:
8. Several members were in
attendance, and those present
were in agreement that the
board's action was violative of the
bylaws.

 Turn -ion words into verbs when

you can.

Basic
Improve the passage by changing all but
one or two of the -ion words. Do any -ion
words need to stay?
9. The determination that reasonable
grounds exist for the revocation of
parole should first be made by someone
directly involved in the case. Yet we
need make no assumptions in arriving at
the conclusion that this preliminary
evaluation, and any recommendations
resulting therefrom, should be in the
hands of someone not directly involved.

Intermediate
Edit the sentence to reduce the
number of words ending in -ion:
10. Any violation of the terms of
probation established by the
Board will result in revocation of
VanTech's authority to conduct
itself as a public-utility operation.

 Simplify wordy phrases. Watch out

for of.

Basic
Revise the sentence to minimize
prepositions (at, on, in, of, to, for
..etc)

11.This Court did not err in issuing

its order of dismissal of the
claims of Plaintiff.

Intermediate
Revise the passage to minimize
prepositions:
12. Henry II had genius of a high
order, which never manifested itself
more clearly than in his appreciation
of the inevitability of the divergence
of the paths of crime and of tort,
and in his conception of crimes as
offenses against the whole
community.

ASSIGNMENT #1
WRITE YOUR ANSWERS ON A
YELLOW PAD PAPER TO BE
SUBMITTED NEXT MEETING,
NOVEMBER 15, 2014.
THANK YOU.