Search the Legal Abbreviations and Acronyms Dictionary for acronyms and/or abbreviations that contain quotations. And if you`re using a definition verb, it makes sense to put the term defined in bold and enclosed in quotation marks, because quotation marks replace the distance provided by the punctuation used in a glossary. While commenting on student work, I have noticed a decline over the years in students` use of quotation marks around defined terms, especially when they are defined in inner parentheses. I note that, for example, investment bankers do not generally use quotation marks, but lawyers do. I think it is clearer to do so, otherwise some terms may be confused with the text in parentheses, and I believe in consistency. 1. Be careful not to quote excessively; Paraphrase whenever possible. New law students sometimes mistakenly believe that they should always quote the words of a judge. After all, according to the reasoning, the judge must know how best to express the law. However, excessive citation is a poor substitute for analysis.

Your job as a lawyer is to analyze precedents, not just repeat them. Therefore, your letter should explain to your reader why and how a precedent is important to your client. You cannot fulfill this important interpretive function simply by chaining quotation marks. In addition, the sequence of case citations and secondary sources tends to result in choppy and incoherent text. It`s usually best to use your own words so that the text you`re writing has a logical progression and consistent style from sentence to sentence. n. the basic rule that witness statements or documents naming persons who are not tried are not admissible. Because the person claiming to know the facts is not present in court to say his or her exact words, the trial judge cannot directly assess the conduct and credibility of the alleged witness, and counsel for the other party cannot cross-examine the witness (ask questions). 7.

Use a comma after “said”, “declared”, “exclaimed” and similar terms when entering a quotation. In other cases, add the word “it” and don`t use a comma. It is sometimes difficult, as with the word “inmate” in the second example below, to determine whether it is acceptable to use an introductory term with a comma (such as “said”) instead of an introductory term with the word “that” (such as “wrote that”). When in doubt, use the latter option (judged that, wrote that, found that, came to the conclusion that).