The TR Company

TIPS ON LEGAL WRITING II

24/10/19 TIPS ON LEGAL WRITING II

  When you can recast a negative statement as a positive one without changing the meaning, do it. You’ll save readers from needless mental exertion. A single negative often isn’t very taxing:

• No more than one officer may be in the polling place at a given time.

Still, the positive form is more concise and direct—and equally emphatic:

• Only one officer may be in the polling place at a given time.