Let’s See — Why Do Lawyers Need Editors?
Well . . . to tell you the truth, not all lawyers need editors. The ones who don’t are the ones who aren’t read, except by those (law clerks, judges, opposing counsel) who really have no choice (because they’re involved in a certain matter).
As things change, more and more lawyers get to write more and more things besides memos and briefs. Many of them write client alerts or newsletter articles for their firms, and some write for blogs.
Those authors need editors.
Why? For much the same reason those authors visit their barbers and stylists and cleaners before they go before a live audience: To look good!
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Consider a blog (written by attorneys and published by their firm) that deals with a specific area of law. It’s about technology law.
Here’s an article from it titled “Disloyal Employees and the CFAA.”
Here’s the intro:
A civil cause of action under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) frequently is pleaded in cases where an employer is suing a former employee for misappropriation of trade secrets or copying of proprietary information, and the employee’s actions involved some kind of access to or use of the employer’s computer network. (52)
That could use a bit of polish. Here’s what a skilled and experienced editor might do with it:
A civil cause of action under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) is often pleaded in cases where an employer is suing a former employee for misappropriating trade secrets or copying proprietary information, and the employee’s actions involved access to, or use of, the employer’s computer network. (47)
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What’s changed?
- frequently is became is often
- misappropriation of became misappropriating
- copying of became copying
- some kind of was deleted
- the number of words was reduced by 10%
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Why?
To make the author look good.
