Guide to Legal Writing
Jul. 1, 2025
Calling names (in briefing)
If Herman Melville didn't need to write "Call me Ishmael ('Ishmael')," then legal writers shouldn't feel compelled to define every party with clunky parentheticals. Clear, consistent naming is better writing and better advocacy.
Benjamin G. Shatz
Partner
Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP
Appellate Law (Certified), Litigation
Email: bshatz@manatt.com
Benjamin is a certified specialist in appellate law who co-chairs the Appellate Practice Group at Manatt in the firm's Los Angeles office. Exceptionally Appealing appears the first Tuesday of the month.
If Herman Melville had been a lawyer, perhaps "Moby-Dick" would have started: "Call me Ishmael ('Ishmael')." Even though the novel runs over 600 pages, Melville saw no need to "define" the first-person narrator beyond his own self-intro. Similarly, when the white whale is finally named (in Chapter 36), there is no "Moby-Dick ('Moby-Dick')"--though many lawyers seem to think that such "definition" is important, even if the c...
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