George Orwell, “Politics and the English Language,” 1946. 

Orwell argues for concise, jargon-free writing. He contends that the work of producing clear writing can help clarify one’s thinking. Applying this perspective to law school admissions might, ambitiously, enable us to reframe the application essay – rather than a tedious chore, perhaps it’s an opportunity to delve richly into your story and uncover the motivations pushing you toward law school.

“I think the following rules will cover most cases: 

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech that you are used to seeing in print.

2. Never use a long word where a short one will do. 

3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out. 

4. Never use the passive where you can use the active. 

5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent. 

6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.”

Eugene Volokh and Alexander Tanford, “How to Write Good Legal Stuff,” 2009.

Law professors Eugene Volokh and Alexander Tanford’s primer on legal writing argues for the simplification of legalese. It’s useful for writing your application essays because it provides tractable tips on writing compelling prose, such as avoiding passive voice, weak verbs, verbosity and redundancy, unduly effusive language, double negatives, meaningless filler words, and stating the obvious. A quick skim of this piece acts as a useful gut-check for your writing style. 

Carmine Gallo, “Ruth Bader Ginsburg Sharpened Her Writing Skills To Persuade People Who Are Hard To Convince,” 2020.

Reflecting on Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s career following her death, writer Carmine Gallo identifies three key features of Ginsburg’s writing: “get to the point,” “keep it short,” and “say it in plain English.” As Ginsburg once said, “My eye is on the reader…I try to be as clear and concise as I can be.”

Ross Guberman, Point Made, 2014.

Legal-writing consultant Ross Guberman identifies the key writing techniques underlying some of the most effective legal arguments of our time. His advice ranges from adding figures of speech to engender intrigue to the canonical, “show, don’t tell.” You can gain insight into his perspective on writing from this blog post.