Persuasive Writing
A method for analyzing legal authorities, this is an acronym for Conclusion, Rule, Explanation of Rule, Analysis/Application of Rule, and Conclusion
What is CREAC?
This refers to the matching of the forms of words, phrases, or clauses within a sentence.
Incorrect: He is smart, honest, and has a great sense of responsibility.
Correct: He is smart, honest, and very responsible.
What is parallelism or parallel structure?
These types of facts are included in your brief because they satisfy the elements of a cause of action and are necessary to prove or disprove a claim.
What are legally significant or legally relevant facts?
These are materials that discuss, explain, analyze, and critique the law. They discuss the law, but are not the law itself.
What are secondary sources?
A type of pincite that may require dropping any repetitious digits other than the final two digits (e.g., 103-06).
What is a page range?
What is the Introduction?
In UK English, this word might be spelled to include a second "e" but in American English, the word never includes the "e."
What is judgment?
This type of numeral is used to number introductory pages in a brief, such as the Table of Contents and Table of Authorities (i, ii, iii).
What are romanettes?
This court reviews decisions from these district courts:
What is the Third Circuit Court of Appeals?
The abbreviation for this type of court document is "Ex."
What is an exhibit?
The learning principle that information presented at the beginning and end is best remembered.
What is the rule of primacy and recency?
This article will be used before any word that begins with a vowel sound (except a long u) and words beginning with a silent h, as in "appellant," "hour," or "IRS ruling."
What is "an"?
Linguist H.W. Fowler condemned the overuse of this technique in his classic book Modern English Usage, writing, "The fatal influence is the advice given to young writers never to use the same word twice in a sentence—or within 20 lines or other limit. . . . There are few literary faults so widely prevalent . . ."
What is elegant variation?
These should be consulted before drafting any legal document, such as a complaint, motion, or brief, to ensure that your document adheres to the proper format, content requirements, and filing deadlines specified by those rules, thereby increasing the likelihood of your document being accepted by the court.
What are court rules?
This sets the standard for the formatting and presentation of judicial opinions in New Jersey.
What is the New Jersey Manual of Style?
A ruling that applies existing law to the facts of a specific case. It's binding on the parties involved, but it doesn't establish new policy or create new interpretations of the law.
What is a non-precedential decision?
When discussing a case illustration in legal writing, you generally use this tense to describe the facts of the case, the court's decision, and any actions taken by the parties involved.
What is past tense?
This distills an argument into one or two assertive and conclusory sentences placed at the beginning of an issue and serves as a preview or roadmap for your reader.
What is a thesis statement?
Published by West, this reporter contains decisions that do not involve new legal principles or interpretations, and because of this, were previously excluded from the official reporters (thus the term "unpublished").
What is the Federal Appendix or F. App'x?
This introductory signal indicates that the authority is different from the main proposition but sufficiently analogous to lend support.
What is Cf.?
What is "Show, don't tell."
This is used to connect two independent but closely related clauses that are not joined by a coordinating conjunction.
What is a semicolon?
This table in Bluebook is used to look up abbreviations for common words in case names, institutional author names, and periodical titles. Always consult this table when copying and pasting a citation directly from another source such as Lexis or Westlaw.
What is Table T6?
If you are arguing a New Jersey state issue in the District of New Jersey, decisions from this court will be binding authority in your case.
What is the Supreme Court of New Jersey?
This should begin with a present participle unless it contains a quoted sentence or a short statement. You never start with a capital letter unless the quotation reads as a full sentence.
What is an explanatory parenthetical?