#legal-writing

#legal-writing

Many lawyers have eagerly adopted the buzzword "BLUF"-bottom line up front-as if invoking the acronym were synonymous with careful thinking. The catch is that almost no one stops to ask the important question: What exactly is meant by "bottom line"? The answer isn't obvious, and it shifts with context. In military writing, the "bottom line" is a concrete decision or action a commander must take-stated at the very start because the commander already knows the mission, the terrain and the stakes.

Each citation, each argument, each procedural decision is a mark upon the clay, an indelible impression. [I]n the ancient libraries of Ashurbanipal, scribes carried their stylus as both tool and sacred trust-understanding that every mark upon clay would endure long beyond their mortal span.