If you have never written a brief before, and even if you have, this book deserves a look from you. 

The Winning Brief : 100 Tips For Persuasive Briefing In Trial And Appellate Courts (online) is written by master wordsmith, Bryan A. Garner, author of the famed Black's Law Dictionary.

The book is divided into Parts: A-J.  Each Part has a number of useful tips for you to successfully write The Winning Brief!  In total, there are 100 concise, practical and easy-to-use tips that will assist you in effective writing.  Below are a sample of tips from the book.

Part A. Composing in an orderly, sensible way. - Tip 3. Begin the architectural planning by stating the issues.  Figure out how many issues there are - and what they are. - Tip 7. Proof carefully; have others proof carefully; learn and use standard ediiting marks.

Part B. Conveying the big picture. - Tip 10. Limit your issues to 75 words apiece. - Tip 12. Weave facts into your issues to make them concrete. - Tip 14. Highlight the reasons for the conclusions you're urging.

Part C. Marching forward through sound paragraphs. - Tip 24. Say something about the critical cases you cite: show how and why they apply.  For other cases, be satisfied with a simple citation.

Part D. Editing for brisk, uncluttered sentences. - Tip 39. Ruthlessly cut unnecessary words.

Part H. Sidestepping some common quirks. - Tip. 71. Never distort the facts or the law. - Tip 80. State the facts powerfully - in chronological order. - Tip. 82. Present important ideas in lists.

Part I. Capitalizing on little-used persuasive strategies. - Tip 88. Organize the argument section as a dialectic, so that you deal effectively with counterarguments.

Part J. Hitting your stride as a brief-writer. - Tip 95. In an appellate brief, always state the standard of review. - Tip 96. State squarely what you want the court to do. - Tip 100. Remember the importance of ethos.

This version of The Winning Brief : 100 Tips For Persausive Briefing In Trial And Appellate Courts (online) has the entire list of 100 Tips for you to view right in the catalog record, just scroll down the page to the "Contents" note.

Want to take a closer look at this book, click on the "View Online" link in the catalog record (NetID required).

Submitted by Eric Taylor, Evening Reference Librarian on January 18, 2026

This article appears in the categories: Law Library