Editing Checklist

Editing is the most important part of the legal writing process. Here's an editing checklist for the next time you go through your draft.

I am a huge fan and user of checklists. Several times each week, I make my to-do list of outstanding tasks and deadline. So why not have an editing checklist?

Editing Checklist

• Review headings. (More on headings here.)

  • Are they consistent?

  • Do they help build your argument?

• Streamline sentences to be more concise. (More on being concise here.)

  • Remove unnecessary phrases.

  • Remove “that” where it’s unnecessary.

• Check for passive voice. (More on passive voice here.)

• Confirm defined terms are used uniformly throughout.

• Fix citations.

  • Make sure pincites are included where needed.

  • Make sure “id.” is used properly.

  • Change full cites to short cites where appropriate.

• Adjust any hanging headings.

• Update the date.¹

What else would you add?

1. I always use auto dates on my filings where I can. If you don’t, this is the time to start.