Summing It Up with Panache: Framing a Brief's Summary of the Argument
21 Pages Posted: 23 Jan 2015 Last revised: 21 Feb 2015
Date Written: January 21, 2015
Abstract
This article analyzes appellate briefs' summary of the argument section. It begins by presenting commentary from judges and scholars about how a summary of the argument should be framed. It then examines summaries of the argument from selected Supreme Court briefs, many by well-known advocates. It presents data on the summaries’ average length, use of citations, and structure. Then, because rhetoricians have identified the opening and closing of a piece of discourse as key places of emphasis, those parts of the summaries are discussed. The article concludes that, while the effectiveness of a summary cannot be quantified through data, advocates can observe the techniques in the twenty selected examples to obtain some guidance on writing engaging summaries.
Keywords: summary of the argument, brief, legal writing, persuasion, lawyer, attorney, advocate, appeal. appellate, Supreme Court
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