Incoherent posts

[Prairie Purrs]

So, now we have a generation of kids who can't write, can't spell, can't form a complete sentence but who think they are just perfect and wonderful. They have no idea what the rules are and could care less. Just another example of the dumbing down of the system.

So true! For several years, I taught legal research and writing to first-year law students. I was shocked to discover how many people managed to get through grade school, high school, and college without ever learning how to use a comma! I tried to persuade them that many judges do, in fact, understand spelling and grammar and are likely to find a legal brief that's full of errors in basic English to be less than convincing. But I met with mixed success.

One law student actually told me that he didn't need to be able to write correctly because he'd have a secretary to take care of that! I asked him how he could expect the U.S. educational system to have taught his secretary how to write when it had failed to teach him how to do it.

[CathyBogart]

What bothers me the MOST is when people type up a long post and don't bother to break it into paragraphs, so the rest of us have to muddle through a HUGE block of text.

I don't see that here often, but on some other boards it's really frustrating.

[RedHedd]

So true! For several years, I taught legal research and writing to first-year law students. I was shocked to discover how many people managed to get through grade school, high school, and college without ever learning how to use a comma! I tried to persuade them that many judges do, in fact, understand spelling and grammar and are likely to find a legal brief that's full of errors in basic English to be less than convincing. But I met with mixed success.

One law student actually told me that he didn't need to be able to write correctly because he'd have a secretary to take care of that! I asked him how he could expect the U.S. educational system to have taught his secretary how to write when it had failed to teach him how to do it.

That's why my boss asked me to take a legal writing class many years ago. Now I'm a paralegal and that's exactly what I do. I'm the one who's supposed to catch the attorneys' poor grammar and spelling. English and spelling were always my strong areas anyway, so it's not a big deal. It just shocks me to see the quality, or lack thereof, of writing we receive from other law firms.

[Prairie Purrs]

That's why my boss asked me to take a legal writing class many years ago. Now I'm a paralegal and that's exactly what I do. I'm the one who's supposed to catch the attorneys' poor grammar and spelling. English and spelling were always my strong areas anyway, so it's not a big deal. It just shocks me to see the quality, or lack thereof, of writing we receive from other law firms.

I'm not really inclined to believe that an attorney who's too lazy or lacking in attention to detail to use proper English is going to do a great job in the legal research, analysis, and fact-checking departments either. Of course, too many lawyers think that those things are the paralegal's job as well--and that their work consists entirely of schmoozing clients on the golf course and showing up in the courtroom to wave at the judge. But that's a whole 'nother rant.

[RedHedd]

Of course, too many lawyers think that those things are the paralegal's job as well--and that their work consists entirely of schmoozing clients on the golf course and showing up in the courtroom to wave at the judge. But that's a whole 'nother rant.

I think I have the more interesting job and I get to go home at 5:00