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A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage

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The need for clarity and precision in legal writing has become increasingly apparent in recent years. Until this award-winning book appeared, the unwieldy body of legal language had not been collected or scrutinized in any systematic way.
Far more than a typical law dictionary, A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage is the first and only comprehensive guide to style and usage for the legal writer. Bryan A. Garner, an editor, academic, and practicing lawyer has written an accessible, authoritative, and up-to-date guide that will
help anyone in the legal thicket write better, including lawyers, judges, students, journalists, and those who work in other fields concerned with law (among them medicine, business, and finance).
At once scholarly and entertaining, the alphabetical entries define and distinguish between commonly misused words; explain standard usages that other reference works ignore; and cumulatively provide an unparalleled guide to legal style. On virtually every page, the volume contains sparkling
essays on such topics as metaphors, sexism, cliches, Latinisms, danglers, split infinitives, and purple prose. It also brims with actual illustrations from judicial opinions, statutes, briefs, and law review articles.
Already viewed as the classic book in its field, A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage fills an important gap in legal reference literature.

616 pages, Paperback

First published December 3, 1987

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About the author

Bryan A. Garner

74 books166 followers

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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
Profile Image for Bilal Khan.
Author 2 books1 follower
February 13, 2024
Absolute must have for anyone who must read any legal document that uses legalese to try and confuse them
Profile Image for Frank.
14 reviews1 follower
August 18, 2012
A must-have for all legal writers and journalists. Garner's latest edition, his 3rd, recently published in 2011--retitled Garner's Dictionary of Legal Usage--improves on an already-valuable resource.
102 reviews7 followers
August 11, 2013
Great book. Boring for non-lawyers.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews