Sentence, Paragraph, Argument, Brief: Meeting the Four Challenges of Legal Writing

by David N. Greenwald

Overview

A sample preview of the Table of Contents, Preface, and Chapter 1 can be found at www.americanbar.org/products/inv/book/453884887.

Sentence, Paragraph, Argument, Brief is a fresh, comprehensive, and above all practical guide to writing briefs, informed by decades of working and teaching at one of the nation’s foremost law firms. The book organizes itself around a single theme: good briefs reflect careful attention to the sequence of words, sentences, paragraphs, and arguments. The book explains how to arrange these building blocks of legal prose, throughout illustrating its guidance with before-and-after examples drawn from filed briefs. Unlike other books on this topic, this book gives as many turnkey tips for organizing arguments and briefs as for drafting sentences and paragraphs. It focuses distinctively on the real-world writing challenges, large and small, that litigators face every day.

The book’s original - but practice-tested - treatment of its subject addresses topics other legal writing texts largely ignore. These include how to:

• Reposition words in a sentence to enhance its persuasiveness
• Classify paragraphs to help organize arguments
• Enhance paragraph flow and coherence
• Improve professional diction to bolster credibility
• Group related contentions together to make arguments more coherent
• Control the tone of background statements to advance a client’s position
• Refine and coordinate argument headings to help ease judges into arguments
• Structure tables of contents to transparently reveal a brief’s logic
• Edit others’ drafts efficiently and without workplace friction, and
• Improve writing on your own

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781639056552
Publisher:	American Bar Association
Publication date:	10/28/2025
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

David N. Greenwald has devoted over three decades to writing and editing briefs and to teaching those skills to practicing lawyers. After clerking for Judge Richard A. Posner, he began his career in 1994 at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, the nation’s second oldest law firm. A few years later, he joined the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and served there as a federal prosecutor for three and a half years. He then returned to Cravath in 2000, where he became a partner in the Litigation Department. In addition to teaching legal writing at Cravath, he has been invited to teach legal writing at other law firms throughout the United States. He currently serves as the ‘Respectfully Submitted’ columnist for the ABA Litigation Journal.

Greenwald graduated in 1990 from Harvard College (summa cum laude) and in 1993 from the University of Chicago Law School (high honors).  As a law student, he won the Bustin Prize for the best Law Review comment.

Editorial Reviews

There are lots of books about legal writing, but so many of them talk about it in a hopelessly abstract way. David Greenwald’s book is full of specific advice—right down to the level of how to structure individual sentences. The author’s long experience as a litigator at one of the nation’s preeminent firms shines through on every page. This book is an invaluable resource for brand-new and experienced lawyers alike.”

Kannon Shanmugam, Supreme Court and Appellate Practice Chair, Paul Weiss; Asst. U.S. Solicitor General (2004-08).

“As a federal appellate judge for 22 years, I read over 15,000 briefs. This book explains how to write the briefs I wish I could have drawn upon to help me resolve the hundreds of matters I adjudicated every year. Drawing upon the author’s own decades of experience in writing and editing briefs and in teaching it to practicing lawyers, the book offers a new approach to brief-writing that focuses on word, sentence, paragraph and argument sequence. Unlike many other books in this field, it is rich with turnkey tips and generous examples. I know of no more helpful book on this underserved topic.”

Hon. Paul R. Michel, Chief Judge (Retired);U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

“As a litigator for 40 years and a law professor for 15, I know how hard it is to teach young lawyers and law students how to craft a well-written brief. This book addresses each of the fundamental building blocks—sentence, paragraph, argument, brief—guiding the reader, in turn, to an effective result. Confirming that it is better to show than to tell, the author uses numerous excerpts from actual briefs to demonstrate how small edits can substantially enhance clarity and persuasion. I already use several of the author’s writings in my course on Advanced Written Advocacy and will add this book to the assigned reading.”

Richard W. Clary, Lecturer on Law, Harvard Law School

“A brief-writer’s treasure chest and a must-have for anyone committed to effective advocacy.”

David Marriott, Latham & Watkins

From the Publisher