A “Dictator” writes 10 pages for what should be a 3 page motion. As a former law clerk, these long dictated motions would always chap my @ss. Such a waste of time. As a practitioner, however, I see the monetary value of these long, bloated, John Candyesque (or Elvis in his later days) motions. A younger writing revolution will lead to a take over as technology continues to breakdown the old, evil, Mussoliniesque billing empires. These younger revolutionaries get their point across effectively and memorably in a paragraph as opposed to 10 pages.
As William Wallace in Braveheart meant to say:
“I am a Young Legal Writer. And I see a whole army of my professionals, here in defiance of dictation. You’ve come to write as free men… and free men you are. What will you do with that freedom? Will you write?”
Well, will you write? Or will you dictate and die like Mussolini, John Candy or Elvis. (How about that for a false dilemma?)
Or is the better question: Has dictating made legal writing suck?