Joe Fore

I recently posted about the importance of clarity in legal writing. My thread didn’t get into how to achieve it.

Here’s one basic, concrete tip: put subjects and their verbs near the start of the sentence and near each other.

The sentence in the block quote below illustrates the point nicely.

Oral Argument Transcripts are Now on CourtListener! With our new Transcripts feature for Oral Arguments, you can search and monitor anything said in a circuit court case.

New! CourtListener now has AI-generated transcripts of more than three million minutes of circuit court oral argument recordings. You can:
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Learn more here:
free.law/2025/07/31/o...

💯
Clarity is the number one priority in legal writing.

UVA Law Is No. 1 in Best Quality of Life, Best Professors, Best Classroom Experience The University of Virginia School of Law reclaimed the top spot in Best Quality of Life and continued to top the list for Best Classroom Experience and Best Professors in The Princeton Review’s 2025 l...

#UVALaw reclaimed its No. 1 spot in Best Quality of Life and continues to top the list for Best Professors and Best Classroom Experience in The Princeton Review’s annual law school rankings.

As U-Va. president leaves, faculty say board failed to protect university University of Virginia faculty senate votes no-confidence in Board of Visitors amid Trump administration scrutiny

“University of Virginia faculty passed a vote of no confidence Friday in the school’s governing body, saying it failed to protect against “outside interference” by the Trump administration that led to the eventual resignation of President James E. Ryan.”

The House #OBBB Bill provided for a $150k cap; the Senate bill raised that to $200k but with a $50k annual cap. That makes sense for medical students but not for law students. Unsurprisingly, the Chair of the relevant Senate Committee was Dr. Bill Cassidy. Oy. www.americanbar.org/advocacy/gov...

I am spending my 4th reading up on student loans and #OBBB for the podcast with @mbkplus.bsky.social. Unless I am missing something, law schools will be in serious trouble beginning in 2026-27. Many media outlets are reporting the $200k total cap for professional schools, but the annual cap is $50k

An even longer, standing ovation after another speaker thanks UVA for their long-time support and, specifically, Jim Ryan’s contributions.

The event starts with a reading of the Declaration’s preamble.

Sustained applause after the line decrying “a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object [that] evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism”

Damn right.

Honored and proud to be spending Independence Day at the annual Monticello naturalization ceremony, helping to celebrate and welcome more than 70 new fellow Americans.

It’s always a deeply moving event, but it feels so much more meaningful this year.

- City’s outside counsel….doesn’t do that.

- 6/2/25: NIMBYs seek default judgment

- 6/3/25: City’s lawyers realize mistake and seek leave to file answer

- 7/1/25: Judge grants default; zoning ordinance is void ab intitio.

infocville.com/2025/07/01/j...

cc @badlawyerpod.bsky.social

2/2

Absolute lawyer nightmare fuel here in Charlottesville:

- City adopts new zoning ordinance allowing more density.

- Jan. 2024: NIMBYs sue to block it (obvi)

- Late 2024: NIMBYs file amended complaint; City moves to dismiss.

- 4/30/25: Judge denies MTD; gives City 21 days to file answer

1/2

- City’s outside counsel….doesn’t do that.

- 6/2/25: NIMBYs seek default judgment

- 6/3/25: City’s lawyers realize mistake and seek leave to file answer

- 7/1/25: Judge grants default; zoning ordinance is void ab intitio.

infocville.com/2025/07/01/j...

cc @badlawyerpod.bsky.social

2/2

Absolute lawyer nightmare fuel here in Charlottesville:

- City adopts new zoning ordinance allowing more density.

- Jan. 2024: NIMBYs sue to block it (obvi)

- Late 2024: NIMBYs file amended complaint; City moves to dismiss.

- 4/30/25: Judge denies MTD; gives City 21 days to file answer

1/2

INDIANA JONES AND “REALLY MORE OF A COMMENT THAN A QUESTION”

INDIANA JONES AND EXASPERATINGLY EXPLAINING HOW JARED DIAMOND GROSSLY OVERSIMPLIFIED COMPLEX SOCIOLOGICAL, CULTURAL, AND GEOLOGICAL FACTORS AND ELIDED OBVIOUS CRITIQUES

Letters from DOJ reveal threats to U.Va. over admissions policies, Ryan’s leadership “Time is running short, and the Department’s patience is wearing thin,” the final letter read

This is a must-read story (including full text of letters from a FOIA request) by the Daily Cavalier about Trump admin's efforts to misuse federal antidiscrimination law in support of its ideological agenda against DEI at UVA. Kudos to the student journalists! www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2025...

New article alert! "The 'First-Year Law Student' in Legal Rhetoric will be published in Legal Communication & Rhetoric: JALWD. The article explores, categorizes, and critiques references to first-year law students in legal rhetoric and discourse.

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Update: This meeting has, evidently, been canceled without explanation.

UVA’s Board of Visitors is holding a special, virtual meeting this morning at 11:30—no doubt to discuss the shameful events of the past week.

You can watch the meeting here:

bov.virginia.edu/live

Call for Articles for Legal Communication & Rhetoric: JALWD Volume 23 (Fall 2026). Deadline: Sept. 1 for articles up to 15,000 words; essays up to 5,000 words on topics related to legal communication or rhetoric primarily intended for our practitioner audience. alwd.org/lcr-submissi...

#LegalWriting
I'm an editor on this journal! If you have a piece that involves legal communication or rhetoric, something with a practical focus that will be of interest to lawyers, judges, and academics, then you should submit. You'll get a great editing experience, if I do say so myself.

SCOTUS majority not deigning to give *any* reasons for staying the injunction of the district court - in the highest-possible stakes context & where the executive branch has acted appallingly - evincing real contempt for both district courts & the rule of law

It’s fine, everyone. You see, we used to have dumb people overseeing our foreign policy. Now we have smart people—you might even say the Best and the Brightest. No way that can go wrong.

The President's disastrous decision to bomb Iran without authorization is a grave violation of the Constitution and Congressional War Powers. He has impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations. It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment.

AOC: “It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment.”

More fundamentally: how on Earth would you know if you’re allergic to this brand-new drug? You’re supposed to “ask your doctor” because you’ve never even heard of it before—let alone put it in your body.

28

I wish people would listen to people who write & teach writing for a living. We know that there is something *extremely important* contained within the process of writing. Writing, editing, revising, getting feedback, sitting with your thoughts, changing your thoughts. Writing IS thinking.

Wild how the Fed chair saying that *entire regions of the United States* won’t be able to get a mortgage in the next decade barely registered as a news event