First Things First: Drafting Preliminary Statements

When drafting a brief, you naturally want to make the strongest positive first impression possible. In terms of brief writing structure, you address this goal in the preliminary statement.

A forthcoming article in the Seton Hall Law Review gives you some good advice on crafting preliminary statements. The author compares the task to a one or two minute book pitch to a book agent.

Here are some tips from the article that will help you wow your readers from the start:

• Keep it short, and leave your audience wanting more.
• Avoid jargon, legalese, or unfamiliar terms or expressions.
• Don’t oversell – you’re not writing the brief equivalent of the next Harry Potter.
• Don’t emote – leave out the underscoring, italics and exclamation points.
• Use strategic repetition of key words and phrases.
• Emphasize the crucial portion of the legal rule.
• Write the preliminary statement first, but edit it last.
• Introduce your narrative theme or storyline and hint at upcoming plot turns.
• Group positive information together.
• Think of the preliminary statement as a piece of flash fiction.
• Address opposing counsel’s counterarguments upfront if you have a strong argument, or lowlight them later in the statement of the facts.
• Engender empathy for your client with your readers.

See Amy Bitterman, In the Beginning: The Art of Crafting Preliminary Statements, Seton Hall Law Review (Forthcoming) [full text on SSRN].

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