write like your case depends on it.
Because it does.
Meet Chris Schandevel
12 years of brief-writing experience
80+ appeals briefed and argued
28,000+ LinkedIn followers
Ready to train your firm
Train Yourself
Transform your legal writing with lessons learned from over a decade of appellate brief-writing experience—distilled into three actionable pages.
This free guide is the culmination of:
An appellate clerkship
More than a decade of litigating appeals in state and federal courts across the country
Authoring over 120 appellate briefs
Invaluable insights from brilliant reviewers and mentors
Countless hours immersed in the market's best legal-writing books
More than just a quick reference, this guide connects you to the broader legal-writing community. It includes over 50 curated links to top online sources, allowing you to learn directly from some of the best voices in the industry.
train your entire firm
Virtual brief-writing training
In-person brief-writing training
My core brief-writing values
Hi, I’m Chris Schandevel.
I’ve written 100+ briefs for state appellate courts, federal courts of appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Here are 10 principles I live by:
1. Clarity is king. Brevity is its queen.
2. One space after a period. Not two.
3. Em dashes solve almost everything.
4. Excellent brief-writing can be taught.
5. It’s never too early to start persuading.
6. Never write a sentence you couldn’t easily speak.
7. Steelman the other side’s argument. Then destroy it.
8. Use sentence-starting conjunctions like And, But, and So.
9. Don’t be afraid to use a few contractions. And sentence fragments.
10. Brief-writing is a science and an art. Master the science, then enjoy the art.
