Set in Style

That’s our perpetual question. And here’s a variation on our perpetual answer — an editor can do for an attorney’s appearance (in print) what a stylist can do for an attorney’s appearance (in person). An editor can help an attorney look his or her very best.

Here’s a fine example. Consider the first line of a recently published client alert.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) recently amended its rules to allow proxy materials to be furnished to shareholders through the Internet (the “Notice and Access” model).

The author says the “SEC” is the Securities and Exchange Commission, and then he says the “Notice and Access” model is the Internet!

Of course, the author didn’t mean to call the Internet the Notice and Access model. He meant something else.

To see what he meant, you need to know this much about the Notice and Access model: it refers to a practice in which issuers of stock send a notice to stockholders informing them that they can access proxy materials at some Web site.

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So, how would that first line have turned out if the author had an editor polish it before it was published? Perhaps like so:

The SEC recently amended its rules to allow proxy materials to be distributed via the Notice and Access model. According to this model, issuers of stock send stockholders a notice informing them that they can access the proxy materials at some Web site.

Note: A sharp editor would have asked the alert’s author about the claim that the rules were “recently amended,” since the rule change took effect a year earlier.

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A big deal? No, but big deals often hinge on the smallest of details.

Look . . . if you have to have your hair done, your clothes pressed, and your shoes shined before you meet a potential client, then why in the heck would you publish a client alert (which might be seen by many potential clients) without having an editor polish it first?

 
Cory Atkins, a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, has her own Web site. Here’s the first line of the site’s home page:

I have one of the most independent records in the House.

We know what she means, but . . . we’re taken by the second paragraph:

And I use the internet.

Ms. Atkins is in the news now. Why? Because she’s sponsoring a bill to bring an end to that age-old practice of using masculine pronouns to refer to all — men, women, and everyone else.

Here’s an interesting story of what can happen when attorneys fail to follow a time-honored principle of publishing.

The good folks behind Mission Critical Litigation^® claim that their leaders were formed — and they were formed in just one day. Here’s the claim:

Formed on March 1, 1980, our leaders built a firm with ambitious and smart lawyers who demonstrate passion and zeal in their representation of the firm’s clients.

What they didn’t do was exercise the standard of care expected of a publisher* — they didn’t involve an editor.

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* If you publish articles and newsletters and client alerts and practice-area descriptions and you maintain a Web site, then you are a publisher.

And if you claim to pay great attention to detail, . . . .

Ross Guberman has this interesting post about the grammatical errors he found in the opinion and dissents in District of Columbia vs. Heller.

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Update: On 14 July, the California Supreme Court announced that it is looking for an editor.

Each of the following contains some grammatical error(s). Can you identify the error(s)?

McKee Nelson has one of the most prominent teams of tax attorneys in the country, comprised of accomplished business lawyers with tax expertise who represent a diverse range of clients.

McKee Nelson’s Litigation/Enforcement Group is comprised of more than 60 lawyers with extensive experience representing clients with regard to complex disputes . . . .

Because the tax credits and other tax benefits often comprise a significant portion of the economic return . . . .

Be the first to correctly identify the error(s), and win a nifty prize — one that sets you apart from most others.

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Note: Not long after our winner won this contest, the folks at McKee Nelson revised their copy — they replaced comprise with compose. In their haste, they introduced another error!

Professional publishers do this: before they publish copy, they prove proof it.

This is a pretty straightforward task. It’s the sort of thing most concientious conscientious sots sorts learned in middle school (i.e., before you submit a paper, review it).

It’s a very basic, and important, taks task. Forget to proof your copy before it’s published, and you just might find people talking about you (in a not-so-good way) the next day.

Now that we’re clear on that, let’s talk about SEO: search engine optimization.
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