OSB Bulletin Legal Writer Article Archive

2021

January

On the Subject of Subjects:
Here’s a Concrete Way to Avoid Abstract Writing
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost

2020

December

Shades of Gray:
Word Choices Offer Subtle Shifts in Meaning
By Suzanne E. Rowe
November

In Her Own Words:
RGB’s Lessons on Writing and Collegiality
By Suzanne E. Rowe
October

It's Party Time!:
A Celebration of Good Legal Writing
By Rebekah Hanley
August/September

Intelligence:
Automation Further Blurs the Line Between 'Stealing' and 'Sharing'
By Rebekah Hanley
July

Tips from a Master Storyteller:
Good Writing Comes From Hard Work, Stephen King Says
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost
June

Writing Remotely:
Lessons about Work and Life During Uncertain Times
By Suzanne E. Rowe
May

Want to be a Better Writer? Read!:
Enjoying Others' Work Can Improve Your Own
By Rebekah Hanley
April

Better, Smarter, More Efficient:
Some New-School solutions for Old-School Work
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost
February/March

Avoiding Awkwardness:
Parallelism Can Change Both Meaning and Tone
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost
January

They/Them/Theirs:
As Language Evolves, Pronouns Leap Forward
By Suzanne E. Rowe

2019

December

Writing in a Digital World:
Tips for Easing the Transition from Paper Documents
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost
November

It's Just a Matter of Time:
Tips for Improving Your Proofreading Prowess
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost
October

Being Well While Writing Well:
Develop a Schedule, Gain Confidence & Embrace Feedback
By Suzanne E. Rowe
August/September

Juxtaposing Joys and Jolts:
Search for Meaning Begins with ‘Jeopardy!’
By Suzanne E. Rowe
July

Making Sense of Lists:
Twists and Turns of a Legal Document Require Better Formatting
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost
June

Don't Sell Short on Semicolons:
Increasing Value in Your Writing Portfolio
By Suzanne E. Rowe
May

The Worst Words: Bloated Writing Makes My Blood Boil
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost
April

Reader's Block: Finding Your Focus for the Written Word
By Suzanne E. Rowe
February/March

More Bar Talk:
A Grammarian Walks Into...
By Suzanne E. Rowe
January

Irregularity and Other Challenges
Addressing Tricky Verbs
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost

2018

December

Avoid Ethical Landmines:
A Grammarian Walks Into...
By Suzanne E. Rowe
November

First Impressions:
Your Professional Bio is Legal Wrting, Too
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost
October

Reader Response:
12 Years of Pet Peeves and Curmudgeonly Fun
By Suzanne E. Rowe
August/September

Avoid Looking Small:
Steer Clear of the Words that Weaken Us
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost
July

Take the Bait:
Bodacious ‘B’ Words for Brilliant Writing
By Suzanne E. Rowe
June

The Error of Extendification:
When Longer Isn't Better
By Suzanne E. Rowe
May

From Quarks to Galaxies: Zoom In and Out to Become a Better Writer
By Suzanne E. Rowe
April

Toes, Cakes and Eggcorns: Phrases Change, Meanings Stay the Same
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost
February/March

Make Fewer Mistakes: Evolution Doesn't Excuse Word Mistakes
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost
January

An Economical Effect: Esquivalience – And Excellent ‘E’ Words
By Suzanne E. Rowe

2017

December

Accepting Critisim with Grace:
Ignoring Feedback Limits Your Ability to Grow and Improve
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost
November

Casting the Dice:
The Definitive Definition of D Words
By Suzanne E. Rowe
October

Little Letters:
How to Say ‘Thanks,’ ‘No, Thanks’ and ‘I’m Sorry’
By Suzanne E. Rowe
August/September

Supreme Writing:
Welcoming Our Newest Justice
By Suzanne E. Rowe
July

Avoiding Plagiarism:
Give Credit Where It's Due by Taking Careful Notes
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost
June

The Progressives, Past and Present:
Don't Leave Your Readers Hanging by Overusing the Wrong Tense
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost
May

Modifier Fighters: Finding and Fixing Misplaced, Squinting and Dangling Modifiers
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost
April

Nominalizations: How to Ruin Perfectly Good Verbs and Adverbs
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost
February/March

An Exercise Regimen: Writing for the New Year
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost
January

Time Capsule: Writing Rules from the Turn of the Century
By Suzanne E. Rowe

2016

December

Beyond Writing: Conversations wth the Bench
By Suzanne E. Rowe
November

Mind Your Ps: Avoiding Miscues
By Suzanne E. Rowe
October

Reflections: Ten Years with the Legal Writer
By Suzanne E. Rowe
August/September

Empty Clichés: The Twinkies in Legal Writing
By Suzanne E. Rowe
July

Professional Conversations: Talking Before Writing
By Suzanne E. Rowe
June

Language at Gettysburg: A Study of Style
By Suzanne E. Rowe
May

E-Communication Etiquette: Notes on Electronic Professionalism
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost
April

Latin in Legal Writing: When to Use It, How, and What It Means
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost
February/March

Confessions: The Mistakes Legal Writing Professors Make, and How We Fix Them
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost, with Megan McAlpin, Joan Rocklin & Suzanne Rowe
January

Number Words: As Easy as 1, 2, 3
By Suzanne E. Rowe

2015

December

Hardly Hyperbole: How to Handle Hubris
By Suzanne E. Rowe
November

Brevity: Readers Respond
By Suzanne E. Rowe
October

Ready to Write: Transferring Writing Skills from Law School to Law Practice
By Megan McAlpin
August/September

Kind Regards and Other Affronts: Another Look at Professional Email
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost
July

Dashes and Dots: Decoding Hyphens, Dashes and Ellipses
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost
June

A Worthwhile Skill: The Upside of Diagramming Sentences
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost
May

Tricky Little Words: The Special Team of the Grammar Squad
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost
April

Brevity: A Challenge
By Suzanne E. Rowe
February/March

Mental Shrinkage: The Many Costs of Multitasking
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost
January

"C" Change: Compelling Compliments and Confrontations
By Suzanne E. Rowe

2014

December

Difficult Conversations: Talking About Bad Writing
By Suzanne E. Rowe
November

Think Different: The End of the Adverb?
By Suzanne E. Rowe
October

From the Mail Bag: Responses to Readers
By Suzanne E. Rowe
August/September

Run-on Sentence Outbreak! Examine Emails for Infection
By Suzanne E. Rowe
July

Keep Learning:
Thinking About Writing, Part II
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost
June

Avoiding Awkardness:
Parallels in Grammar and Etiquette
By Suzanne E. Rowe
May

Plainish English:
Write As You Speak, Unless É
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost
April

Finding a Good Book:
Why Reading Good Writing Will Make You a Better Writer
By Megan McAlpin
February/March

Verboten: Vacuous Verbiage on Valentine's Day
By Suzanne E. Rowe
January

Thinking About Writing: The Discipline to Become a Better Writer
By Suzanne E. Rowe

2013

December

Autoantonymns: Words That Mean Their Opposites
By Suzanne E. Rowe
November

Why You'll Never Be a Good Writer: And Why You Should Still Keep Trying
By Megan McAlpin
October

Take Note!
Creating Knowledge Through Notes
By Suzanne E. Rowe
August/September

Wishful Thinking:
If the Subjunctive Were Easy
By Suzanne E. Rowe
July

Mentoring Legal Writers:
Overcoming 'Illusory Superiority'
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost
June

Breaking the Habits of the Inefficient:
Procrastination and Writer's Block
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost
May

Taken to Task: Touch Up
Your "T" Words
By Suzanne E. Rowe
April

Cutting the Clutter: Spring
Cleaning for Writing
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost
February/March

Pure Sentences: Punctuation Free
By Suzanne E. Rowe
January

Readers' Pet Peeves: A Brief Collection of Annoyances and Goat-Getters
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost

2012

December

Future Shock: Writing in a Brave New World
By Suzanne E. Rowe
November

A Matter of Style: About That Legal Writing
By Megan McAlpin
October

F-Words: The First
Flames of Fall
By Suzanne E. Rowe
August/September

Happy Punctuation Day!
Readers' Haiku Celebration
By Suzanne E. Rowe
July

Adjective Order:
A Quick, Easy Guide
By Suzanne E. Rowe
June

"G " is for Graft:
A Gaggle of Great "G" Words
By Suzanne E. Rowe
May

Primer on Pronouns:
Common Mistakes
By Elizabeth Frost
April

Commas for My Class
By Suzanne E. Rowe
February/March

The Problem with Shall
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost
January

Right as Rain: Remarkable and Revealing "R" Words
By Suzanne E. Rowe

2011

December

Web-based Authorities: Reliable Resources for the Wired Writer
By Elizabeth Ruiz Frost
November

Spell Czech: Amusing Mistakes Your Computer Won't Catch
By Suzanne E. Rowe
October

Drawing with Words: Creating Clear, Colorful Writing
By Megan McAlpin
August/September

Let the Festivities Begin! National Punctuation Day
By Suzanne E. Rowe
July

Building Bridges: Connecting Islands of Ideas
By Suzanne E. Rowe
June

The Formula: Becoming — or Hiring — a Capable Legal Writer
By Rebekah Hanley
May

Celebrating Dependence: The Joys of Subordinate Clauses
By Megan McAlpin
April

What's Your Point?: Tips for Writing Clearly
By M.H. Sam Jacobson
February/March

Notes on Quotes: When and How to Borrow Language
By Rebekah Hanley
January

Painful Prose: The Difficulty of Writing
By Suzanne E. Rowe

2010

December

Back to Basics: Subjects, Verbs, Complete Sentences and Active Voice
By Suzanne E. Rowe
November

Readers Write: Two More Years with Legal Writers
By Suzanne E. Rowe
October

Interesting Eyes: Word Choices V
By Suzanne E. Rowe
August/September

Are You Dense? Editing Obtuse Writing
By M.H. Sam Jacobson
July

Which Is That? Restrictions for Clarity
By Suzanne E. Rowe
June

Five Tools for Writing Fixes: Stocking the Legal Writer's Toolbox
By Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff
May

Taskus Interruptus: Good Writing Requires Concentration
By M.H. Sam Jacobson
April

Conquering the Colon: The Adventures of Advanced Punctuation
By Suzanne E. Rowe
February/March

Proper Placement: The Humor of Misplaced Modifers
By Suzanne E. Rowe
January

Appalling Etiquette: Writing As a Professional
By Suzanne E. Rowe

2009

December

Constructive Criticism: A Generous Bonus in Down Economy
By Rebekah Hanley
November

Punctuation You Can Learn to Love: Six Simple Steps to Correct Commas
By Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff
October

Perfect Tenses: The Timing of Verbs
By Suzanne E. Rowe
August/September

Lessons from the Magic Kingdom: A Legal Writer Reflects on Summer Vacation
By Rebekah Hanley
July

Running On? Life Support for Sentences
By Suzanne E. Rowe
June

Clear or Confusing? When Repetition Works (and Doesn't)
By Suzanne E. Rowe
May

Word Choices IV: Too Close for Comfort?
By Suzanne E. Rowe
April

Word Choices III: Verb pairs that puzzle
By Suzanne E. Rowe
February/March

Making it Plain: In love with legalese?
By Megan McAlpin
January

Resolutions: A new writing process for the new year
By Rebekah Hanley

2008

December

A Shopper's Guide: Gifts for your legal writer
By Suzanne E. Rowe
November

Signaling Support: Linking Citation to Text
By Suzanne E. Rowe
October

Silencing the Novelist Within: Squelching Creative Writing
By Megan McAlpin
August/September

Mea Culpa: Mistakes of a Writing Column Writer
By Suzanne E. Rowe
July

Reader-Friendly Transitions: Showing the way from here to there
By Suzanne E. Rowe
June

Keep it Simple: 'Short and Sweet' Brings Clarity to Legal Writing
By Suzanne E. Rowe
May

E-Writing tips: 4 btr comm
By Suzanne E. Rowe
April

Writing with Oregon Style: Gee, What Are We to Do?
By Suzanne E. Rowe
February/March

Problems with Pronouns: Replacing Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla
By Suzanne E. Rowe
January

Word Choices II: More Pairs that Puzzle
By Suzanne E. Rowe

2007

December

A Parallel Universe: Keeping the Grammatical World in Order
By Suzanne E. Rowe
November

Devilish Details: Legal Writing is Precise Writing
By Suzanne E. Rowe
October

The Beauty of the Verb: Creating a Picture in Every Sentence
By M. H. Sam Jacobson
August/September

Abuse of Discretion: Beheadings, Widows and Orphans, Oh My!
By Suzanne E. Rowe
July

Writing with Clarity: Finding and Fixing the Passive Voice
By Megan McAlpin
June

Finessing Gender Pronouns: When “He” or “She” Just Won't Do
By Suzanne E. Rowe
May

Comma Power: A punctuation mark with clout
By Suzanne E. Rowe
April

Word Choices: Pairs that Puzzle
By Suzanne E. Rowe
February/March

Three Steps for Removing the Muck in Writing
By Joan Malmud
January

Know Your Nouns: Perplexing plurals and possessives
By Suzanne E. Rowe

2006

December

Perfect Proofing: 10 steps towards error-free documents
By Suzanne E. Rowe
November

Six To Nix: Grammar rules to leave behind
By Suzanne E. Rowe
October

Unblocking Writer's Block: Moving ideas from head to page
By Suzanne E. Rowe