Paging Immoral Minority

"Maxima Speed" (maximaspeed)
10/02/2018 at 15:45 • Filed to: None

W hat can you tell me about legal, technical writing? My English Comp II professor seems to think I would have an affinity for legal technical writing and that it could be relatively profitable . He compares my writing to a lawyers and cites my thought out construction and concise structure. (On Oppo I ramble so its not representative of my work) :P Anyways, as a l awyer with your own firm I imagine you must have people who do this, in your employ. Do you have any suggestions and what sort of qualifications do you look for in someone to meet this role? Thanks.

DISCUSSION (15)

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Maxima Speed
10/02/2018 at 15:51

I’m not the OPPO you’re looking for, but that style of writing has lots of opportunities. Technical writers are needed for all kinds of things. I dabble in it some for my work - I handle the disclaimers in Automotive Advertising Emails and review what the creative writers (known as copywriters) write to make sure they’re talking about the cars properly.

Advertising has lots of cool opportunities inside it and lots of them are automotive. Another thing to consider with Technical Writing is Owner’s Manuals have to be written by someone. lol

Maxima Speed > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
10/02/2018 at 15:54

So do you have an English related degree?

Berang > Maxima Speed
10/02/2018 at 16:03

Can you use “contradicente” in a sentence?

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Maxima Speed
10/02/2018 at 16:05

Advertising degree (I did 3x the amount of coursework required so I was ready for writing, design, and account management (client interaction), I also did digital/flash work in college) , my intention was to be a copywriter and I wrote a few ads right when I graduated but ended up in digital work building websites, doing flash development, then became a digital asset manager, was an account executive, then I became a Product Information Specialist.

My job is to know everything there is to know about the cars, to identify them correctly, explain how they work to the creative team, arrange for cars to be available at photo shoots, make sure they know how to use the car during photo shoots, and then for disclaimers I mark up where they should go and which disclaimer should be used.

Then the crazy lawyer changes the disclaimer rules again and I have to either replace it or rewrite it. I go back and forth with the lawyer on the phrasing so we get to a place we’re both happy.

Maxima Speed > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
10/02/2018 at 16:13

That actually sounds like an awesome job.

InFierority Complex > Berang
10/02/2018 at 16:14

A Ferrari Contradicente has a certain ring to it . Maybe it fits better with Lambo? Tough choice.

AestheticsInMotion > Berang
10/02/2018 at 16:15

Does copying your sentence count?

Maxima Speed > Berang
10/02/2018 at 16:16

The economic practices of Venezuelan leadership is contradicente to popular economic theories in the field.

I would normally say no that it isn't a word but I decided to guess what it might mean if it was a word and used it that way.

Future next gen S2000 owner > Berang
10/02/2018 at 16:30

Contradicente is a word.*

Gib money now.

*Contradicente isn’t a word. I’m hedging my bet.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Maxima Speed
10/02/2018 at 16:34

It is an awesome job!

It took 8 years in the ad industry and a couple attempts but I finally got one of these jobs and I now get paid for being a “Car-Know-It-All” which I had been doing for free up until this point.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > AestheticsInMotion
10/02/2018 at 16:48

Kinja'd!!!

RPM esq. > Maxima Speed
10/02/2018 at 16:52

I’m not the opponaut lawyer you asked for, but I’m the one you got. There are different kinds of “legal writing” that apply to different tasks and different jobs within the legal industry. For example, there are significant differences between how you draft a contract or a will, how you tell a story in a complaint, how you write a persuasive brief to a court, how you write a factual memorandum explaining some technical concept or body of evidence, how you write a legal memo analyzing the law as it applies to a problem, how you write a letter conveying a position or demand, etc. It sounds like you’re describing the kind of careful, analytical writing that goes in to collecting and analyzing facts or evidence, or explaining technical ideas. This is definitely an important and marketable skill for paralegals in particular—I would be sunk without the excellent paralegals who marshal facts from discovery and research and break down technical concepts. Doubly so if you also have organizational, research, and management skills and are able to track, manage, and efficiently synthesize large amounts of information. Happy to discuss this further.

haveacarortwoorthree2 > Maxima Speed
10/02/2018 at 17:00

There’s two types of legal writing to consider — litigation and corporate (I throw IP in the corporate mix). Litigation writing usually consists of memos, court filings (briefs, motions, etc.), discovery, and the like. Corporate writing includes business contracts and other agreements, securities filings, etc. IP — or what I call “technical” writing — includes things like patent filings and other documents that make my eyes glaze over.

Things also are very different between big firms and small firms. (The following is a generalization.) At smaller firms, assistants and paralegals tend to draft more documents. At larger firms, most of that work is done by associates because the firms want to bill clients for that work (something has to pay for those starting salaries of $160k+) .

A good writer is a good writer, no matter the degree. My degree was in econ, but I’ve been around people who are great writers and had degrees in history, english, etc. In fact, the best legal writer I’ve ever known had a degree in molecular biology!

haveacarortwoorthree2 > Maxima Speed
10/02/2018 at 17:00

Berang > Maxima Speed
10/02/2018 at 17:11

close enough