May 18th, 2011 by Emily Lubinski

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The American legal profession has seen profound changes in size, demographic composition, structure, and strategy in the past decades. But one constant remains: at the core of a successful law practice is precise, compelling writing. And exactly what makes a compelling argument? That changes with the times, just like your radio dial.

Alex Long, a University of Tennessee law professor, recently researched the use of popular music in legal writing. From a judge who once wrote an entire opinion around Beatles lyrics to a California lawyer who works a Grateful Dead reference into every brief he files, legal professionals have departed from the dry legal jargon of the past, and have made legal writing more palatable, notably with song lyrics.

So who is the most cited musician in legal writing? Bob Dylan takes the landslide victory, with 186 references to his song lyrics. The clincher? “You don’t need a weatherman to tell which way the wind blows.” Often used by California courts, the lyric is often implemented when expert testimony is not required to explain scientific evidence to jurors.

But lyrics don’t always have to convey a message. They can also be helpful in clarifying courtroom transcription. Judge Terrance Evans of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals often uses lyrics to break the monotony of a dry opinion. In a case out of the 7th Circuit, U.S. v. Murphy, 406 F.3d 857 (7th Cir. 2005), Judge Evans explained a court reporter’s error in transcribing witness testimony. The court reporter typed the word “hoe” instead of the derogatory term, “ho.” To clear up this potential misunderstanding, Evans added a footnote in his opinion, defining the difference between the two spellings, using lyrics by rap artist Ludacris, “you doin’ ho activities with ho tendencies.”

Legal writing carries quite a bit of weight, and requires a certain amount of gravity. Associate Justice Richard Huffman, who sits on the California 4th District Court of Appeals in San Diego advises, “We have to be serious because we are dealing with people’s lives. We aren’t there to make light of it, but it doesn’t have to read like Black’s Law Dictionary.”

What’s your inspiration?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 18th, 2011 at 4:00 am by Emily Lubinski and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.