Nothing I say here is meant to be absolute.  Exceptions and limitations abound, and your mileage may vary with every post.  Here are just a few disclaimers:

 

• Sometimes a court rule will conflict with what I say.  For example, the Connecticut rules mandate that appellate briefs refer to parties as “Plaintiff” or “Defendant”—a convention that most writers try to avoid.  In these situations, follow the court rule.  

 

• There’s always going to be a special situation where my advice isn’t practical.  Be practical.

 

• Some clients won’t pay for the level of workmanship that I advocate, and your supervising attorneys may insist on doing silly things.  There are many ways to deal with such indignities.  But ultimately, if it’s your name on the brief, you need to make yourself and your client look good.  

 

• Now and then, my posts will contain outright mistakes.  Nobody’s prefect.  I’ll gladly revise my posts to correct errors or to clarify things, and I’ll give you full credit for pointing out any problems.  So bring it on.  I have zero compunctions about changing a post after I publish it.  Writing is a process.  For my blog, it’s a never-ending one.  

 

• Opinions are why we have so many flavors of ice cream.  But some flavors are just wrong (looking at you, garlic).  So are some opinions.  

​​

• All opinions are my own and not necessarily those of my firm.

​

• I try to avoid snark and the like, but the temptation never really ebbs.  If I ever come off as arrogant or caustic, slap me back into reality.  (In the immortal words of Artie Fufkin, I’m not asking, I’m telling with this.)

​

​The point is, you may have good reasons to find fault with what I say here.  I expect it; indeed, I demand it.  But let’s agree to think about what we’re writing.  We’ll all profit from the effort.