I’m taking a class called at Georgetown that has an investigative component and a legal component. Basically, we’re learning how to be investigative reporters that dig below the surface without going to jail or getting sued. I’m loving the class, but I am struggling to get through the legal reading.
My bachelor’s degree is in English Writing and Rhetoric and nothing gets my panties in a bunch like wordiness. Legal writing really irks me, as I’m sure you can imagine.
Some of the writing in my textbooks remind me of style exercises I had at St. Edward’s. We’d get ridiculously long sentences and the assignment would be to eliminate the unnecessary words.
Here’s an example:
“It is unusual because the decision turned not so much on the Court’s rejecting the constitutional claim that there was a need for confidentiality as it’s rejecting the remedy and doubting its own ability to fashion coherent rules in advance.”
-The Fourth Estate and the Constitution: Freedom of the Press in America by Lucas A. Powe, Jr.
Here’s how I would change it:
“It is unusual because the Court didn’t reject the constitutional claim of confidentiality: the Court rejected the remedy and doubted its ability to write coherent rules in advance.”
I just cut out 12 words. Now that I’ve kvetched, I must get back to reading. Wish me luck.
