Words as Weapons
Words as Weapons
Words are powerful ... when used tactically.
To win legal battles, your words must be assembled as individual numbered sentences.
13 ... Defendant was in Chicago on the 4th of July 2025.
14 ... Defendant signed a contract on the 4th of July 2025 promising to paint Plaintiff's house.
15 ... The contract provided that Defendant would commence painting Plaintiff's house not later than the 7th of July 2025.
16 ... Defendant failed and refused to commence painting Plaintiff's house at any time.
17 ... Plaintiff suffered money damages as a direct result of Defendant's breach of contract.
Simple sentences … not wordy paragraphs, intellectual essays, or persuasive arguments.
Sentences!
Individual numbered sentences.
Sentences that start with a capital letter, end with a period (not a question mark or exclamation point), and are identified by an initial sequential number.
Each sentence should contain only one subject (noun) and one predicate (verb).
Include no conjunctions (and, but, or, and/or, nevertheless, or sometimes).
Each should state one thought and one thought only with as few words as possible.
Each sentence should contain no more modifiers (adjectives and adverbs) than absolutely necessary to convey your intended meaning effectively.
Each sentence must say only one thing and mean only one thing, so your opponent cannot claim some meaning you did not intend, a meaning that could cause you to lose your case!
Words are weapons ... only when they drive home precisely what you need them to say and say absolutely nothing more!
Written Words
Legal battles are not won by speaking.
They are won with written words that end up in the court's official file.
Words spoken in court are powerless unless they are recorded, transcribed, and made part of the court’s official record in writing.
The written record is what wins legal battles. The written record and only the written record.
When you speak at a hearing or trial, the only thing that helps your case is what gets recorded and, if you run into a snage, transcribed and made part of the court's official written record.
If what you “say” doesn’t get written and filed in the court’s official records, there will be nothing for an appellate court to review if the judge breaks the rules or allows your opponent to break the rules or you fail to enforce the rules using the common-sense tactics explained in this course. If you lose in the trial court, and there is no written record to show the appellate court the errors made in the trial court, the appellate court's hands will be tied. The appellate court needs to see the written record so it can decide if the lower court made mistakes that you complained about with objections. (Objections are explained in a later class.)
You must insist on a court reporter (or official audio recording that can be transcribed if needed) every time you (or your opponent) speak in court.
Sequential Words
The reason you number sentences in papers you file with the court or serve on your opponent is because you want your opponent to respond to each of your sentences individually.
Your sentences are nails you drive into your opponent’s head.
When you write: “13 … Defendant was in Chicago on the 4th of July 2025,” your opponent must answer number 13 by admitting, denying, or claiming he hasn’t sufficient knowledge to answer truthfully.
This is critical in pleadings, motions, memoranda, and most other papers you file in court.
You’ll learn more about this in later lessons.
Precise Sentences
Try this:
13 … Defendant was in Chicago on the 9th of May 2025 traveling in a Ford station wagon with his wife who desperately wanted to see a baseball game at Wrigley Field because she’s been a Cubs fan since she was a little girl living in Cincinnati with her widowed aunt after her father was murdered by a mobster from New York.
Silly?
Yes, but many experienced lawyers make this common mistake.
Instead of writing simple sentences with sequential numbering, they write paragraphs, sometimes making legal arguments instead of alleging facts, weakening their cases by ignoring this common-sense tactic.
Don’t make this mistake.
Cases are not won by creative writing exercises or using fancy words to impress the judge.
Cases are won by alleging facts, simply, concisely, and in a way that requires your opponent to admit, deny, or claim he has insufficient knowledge to admit or deny.
Keep your sentences as simple as possible.
One complete thought at-a-time.
Numbered sequentially.
Conclusion
Litigation is an axe fight.
Sharpen your axe!
Words in simple sentences sequentially numbered, win court cases … not emotional entreaties, threats, trickery, ambush, smoke and mirrors, or dog and pony shows.
Court is a war of words, a battle of ideas, a fierce and often bitter competition in which both sides battle to win with no chance of conceding a single point of law or fact.
You must force your opponent to lose!
You do this by arranging your words in concise sequential sentences to to three (3) things:
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Communicate Precisely
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Compel Responses from your Opponent
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Control the Court
Fix this in your mind right now!
How you use your word weapons decides whether you win or lose.
To learn more about writing effectively, order our adjunct lesson “Legal Writing”.
Now, mark this lesson complete and go to the next.
Quiz on Word Power
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