Drafting More Understandable Jury Instruction

Via the (new) legal writer, Raymond Ward posted How to draft more understandable jury instructions.

Jury instructions are too often so poorly written that even the most intelligent juror cannot understand them. That’s a serious problem. So how can we make jury instructions more understandable? Prof. Peter Tiersma offers many concrete suggestions in this article, available for free download on SSRN. If you’re a trial judge or trial lawyer, you need to read it.

Jury Instruction Note

As posted on the (new) legal writer and titled A word on jury instruction, the author points out an interesting fact about jury instructions.

The mere fact that certain language has been used by a judge in rendering an opinion is not of itself sufficient to justify the use of the same language by a trial court in its instruction to the jury. News Leader Co. v. Kocen, 173 Va. 95, 3 S.E.2d 385 (1939).

Check out the full post right here.