Laura Graham
Tweets, Blawgs and Apps: Use Your Phone To Become a Better Legal Writer
If you’re reading this column, it’s a safe bet that you have a smartphone within reach. Depending on whose numbers you believe, upwards of 77 percent of…
Make Your Writing More ‘Impactful’: Banish Trendy Words
Recently, as I was scrolling through Facebook, I saw a link to a list that piqued my interest: “Lake Superior State University’s 43rd Annual List of…
Apostrophe Misuse: The ‘Greatest Solecism’ In the Punctuation World?
As I expected, my last column on the Oxford comma generated some lively feedback — and a topic for this month’s column. It turns out that there is another…
‘For Want Of a Comma’: The Latest In the Oxford Comma War
The Oxford comma—also known as the serial comma or the Harvard comma—is the comma between the penultimate and final items in a written list. For example,…
Key Changes to NC Rules of Appellate Procedure
On Jan. 1, 2017, a comprehensive revision of the North Carolina Rules of Appellate Procedure took effect. The revised Rules apply to all cases appealed on or…
Help For The Legislative Drafter: Part 2
This column originally appeared in the November 2016 edition of North Carolina Lawyer. In the most recent installment of Writing that Works, I introduced a…
By Popular Demand: A Little Help For The Legislative Drafter
I recently received an email from a reader who asked if I knew of any good resources on drafting legislation. At the time, nothing specific came to mind, and…
Putting on ‘Airs and Graces’: The Power of Punctuation To Elevate Your Writing
Each time I sit down to write a punctuation column, I find myself second-guessing the topic. Do readers really want to read about commas, or dashes, or…