Some Criticisms of legal Opinions

The following are some criticisms against legal opinions. Great lawyers try to avoid them.

1. Drafting opinions which are too long and burdened with too many citations.
2. Opinions whose discussion tends to ramble, failing to clearly define and analyse issue presenting lengthy and largely unnecessary discussion of the cases compared.
3. Opinion which make unstructured references to other cases without indicating what facts in those cases are material or immaterial to the case at hand.
4. Opinions which fail to set forth specific reasons for choosing one line of cases over others, saying.
   
   For example: Avoid saying ‘ I think that is the better view’ and, ‘I prefer the majority view’, instead explain why you think a certain view is the better view.
5. Your opinion should not be chunky and sloppy but instead of clean and neat. Avoid over-writing and over-footnoting your opinion

The above expositions are not meant solely for opinion writers. They universally apply to all legal writing.