Legal Writing from the Top Down: A New Approach to Better Writing for Lawyers is the 2nd revised edition of Better Writing for Lawyers, Timothy Perrin’s best-selling volume designed to help all lawyers become better writers.

Better Writing for Lawyers was commissioned by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada and originally published by the Law Society of Upper Canada. It was required reading for every new lawyer in the province of Ontario for four years. It has been used to teach writing skills around the world including across Canada and through the Practice Management Institute in the United States. It has been licensed by continuing legal education societies in Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia.

Praise for the first edition:

A perceptive and refreshing view of plain language drafting as a process....

Report of  theCanadian Bar Association and
Canadian Bankers Association
Joint Committee on Plain Language

[The book is] persuasive, authoritative, and a cinch to guide lawyers in the direction of better writing.

Jack Batten

Quill & Quire

Perrin provides a worthwhile how-to manual for those who want to improve their writing skills .... It is the chapters on the creative process that justify the purchase of the book.

Donald L. Revell

Senior Legislative Counsel

Province of Ontario