The VBA Journal is the official publication of The Virginia Bar Association.
Issue link: http://vba.epubxp.com/i/815343
SPRING 2017 • 13 makes sense to give them a sample. But, unfortunately, rather than thinking how the facts of their client's case should be used to write a document that effectively serves the individual audience and purpose, they instead look at the sample and try to change as few words as possible. is results in some funny writing, but this approach is no laughing matter. e problem has become so widespread that I have recently toyed with inserting a made-up legal term into my sample — perhaps blindus reliancee or itsa shame tocopy. I hazard to guess that these nonsense words would find their way into at least one-third of their documents. So, what's my problem with boilerplate language? Samples, written for the masses with no particular client in mind, contain very few specifics. ey are the vanilla ice cream of the legal writing world. At first, they look good and might even taste that way for a few bites, but eventually, you begin wishing you had ordered chocolate syrup and sprinkles. Samples are also fraught with possibilities for error. One client does not like to see facts from another client's case mistakenly put into a document in his case, but this happens all too frequently when one fails to carefully make sure that each document is individually tailored. My all-time favorite example of this hasty inattention to detail is custody interrogatories in a case where there are no children. Not only does it waste a precious 1 of 30, but also it sends the client a strong message about his or her lawyer's credibility. With the internet so readily available, we cannot avoid the use of samples, but we can impress upon new and ex- isting lawyers that if you have seen one case, you have not seen them all. Modeling individual thinking and showing creative lawyering will go a long way to re-energize the legal profession. We became lawyers to promote justice, to affect change, and to fight for the downtrodden, not to become tired in our writing, thinking, and advocacy. Lawyers are more than just scriveners. It is quite simple to take something a client or other lawyer has written and copy it verbatim. Ask yourself this question: Do you need to spend tens of thousands of dollars and countless hours learning to be a lawyer just to copy a form? So, I implore you, take charge of your future and that of the legal profession. Make each word in every document count. Take care to write documents that serve your particular client well. Make the document stand out. Make the document one that ends up in a scrapbook, not the trash or a formbook tailored to nothing but a generic client's problem. ■ Specifically tailored questions, comments, or sugges- tions are welcomed at dspratt@wcl.american.edu. We became lawyers to promote justice, to affect change, and to fight for the downtrodden, not to become tired in our writing, thinking, and advocacy.