(Editor’s note: Judge Nelson Johnson, the former state Superior Court judge who penned the book that inspired the HBO series Boardwalk Empire, has a new book to help attorneys write and argue better. His latest work, Style & Persuasion: A Handbook for Lawyers, lists the most common writing and arguing mistakes lawyers make and includes practical tips for improvement. This is an excerpt from the book. Buy it here.)
Word budgets are essential for everything you write. You need to make it part of your routine to create a budget for the number of words needed to express your thoughts on a given situation. Lawyers’ communications are part of the “attention economy,” and your message must be tailored to float to the surface among a torrent of random information, sales pitches and rubbish. If you fail to craft a tight message, you risk the reader concluding that what you’ve written is too long, and unworthy of the required investment in time. All your efforts in crafting your message may be ignored simply because of its length.
After you’ve gathered the relevant facts, and have a firm grasp of the issues, as well as your audience, decide on the minimum number of words required to express your thoughts on the issues at hand? What follows are proposed guidelines for the creation of word budgets:
1. Emails: 200–250 words. For many lawyers, emails are the principal means of communicating with colleagues, clients and, often, government officials. First, never send an email without proofreading it. Second, if you need more than 250 words to express yourself in an email, and don’t want to write a formal letter, then prepare a memo and send it as an attachment with a brief explanation of what the attachment contains. Third, remember the forward button. A hasty email sent without giving it adequate thought can come back to haunt you.
2. Routine Letters: 300–500 words. Whether to a client, colleague or the court, letters of more than two pages are unwelcome by most recipients. To a large extent—for the better—emails have replaced lawyers’ routine letters. Thus, when you decide to prepare a letter on law firm stationery, you should have something important to say. If you want your letter to be read, choose your words carefully and boil down your message to its basics. When you send a letter via email, always do so as an attachment, with a short, explanatory statement.
3. Opinion Letters: 3,000 words. Lawyers are often called upon to express formal opinions on diverse issues. Frequently, lawyers err on the side of trying to address every contingency. Don’t! Focus on the issues essential to arriving at a conclusion that addresses the client’s concerns. A word budget of 3,000 (seven to nine double-spaced pages) is ample to express an opinion. If you are concerned about leaving out something critical, consider attaching exhibits amplifying your opinion, or listing unanswered questions.
4. Routine Memos: 1,500–2,500 words. Associates write memos for partners and partners use them to make decisions in advising clients. A word budget of 1,500-2,500 (six to eight double-spaced pages) provides interested readers sufficient information to make preliminary decisions. If more research is required, the memo can be expanded; let your reader know that.
5. Preamble to a Contract: 250–500 words. As discussed in Chapter Six, Rule #1 for every lawyer responsible for preparing an agreement is to know your deal. If you have a full understanding of the transaction, 500 words is ample.
6. Routine Legal Brief: 4,000 words. Whether a motion involving unanswered discovery, a petition to compel a deposition or a request for a date certain for a trial, a word budget of 4,000 words (10–11 double-spaced pages) will usually suffice.
7. Legal Brief on Summary Judgment: 7,500 or less words. This is my favorite. During my time on the bench, I frequently saw briefs in connection with motions for summary judgment that, sans exhibits, exceeded 40 pages, more than 13,000 words. Most of those briefs were hundreds of sentences too few, and thousands of words too many. A long chapter in a serious work of history contains 7,500 words. No matter how complex, learn to distill your argument to the finer points.
These guidelines for word budgets are only suggestions. That said, seasoned attorneys who respect their audience likely adhere to similar word budgets. If you wish to avoid losing your reader because what you’ve written is too long, you will do your best to adhere to these suggested word budgets.