Why? Because many third-party-online publishers leave images out from the original decision. Imagine footnotes like these being dropped into a judicial decision: [Proposed new footnote:] To help future readers who may read this decision in a third-party, text-only format that left out the image, Figure 1 is a black-and-white portrait photograph of Prince taken in…
A downloadable and printable handout is sometimes more useful than a text-based blog post. (At least for this “prompt engineer”.) Sharing what works for me, here is a downloadable three-page guide of the plain-language editing prompts that are helpful when I use ChatGPT, Bard, and Bing. Don’t be shy in sharing your experience and suggestions….
#AppellateTwitter wasted no time criticizing an experienced SCOTUS advocate for his recent brief’s word choice: But wait. Nearly one year (!) after the Court invited her views, the Solicitor General has delivered what can only be described as a hot mess of a brief. In it, the government claims to have unearthed a new obstacle…
Footnotes 7–13 in a recent Intermediate Court of Appeals of Hawaii unpublished opinion defined quoted text message emojis, slang, and abbreviations: 7 The text messages are quoted verbatim with footnotes throughout to clarify terms, abbreviations, and symbols used, as may be necessary. 8 “Sup” is an “informal greeting equivalent to ‘What’s up?’” Sup, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sup…
The Michigan Court of Appeals recently issued an interesting published opinion about two siblings charged with truancy, their right to counsel, and whether they waived that right in the trial court. Court of Appeals Chief Judge Elizabeth Gleicher wrote the lead opinion. She also penned a separate concurring opinion. Judge Thomas Cameron also wrote a…
I had some Q&A banter with ChatGPT because I wanted to get curious about how ChatGPT works and later share a glimpse of how it can help during plain-language editing. Our exchanges are captured in this video. A transcript is reprinted below. (If the video text seems too small when the video is viewed within…
Cher is known for heavy emoji Tweets. And emojis often find their way into court cases. Ever wonder what a series of emojis may mean? Perhaps someone texted you: 🐰🥚🐣💐🌷🌹🌸🌼🌺🌻🌷💐🌹🌸🌼🌺🌻 Or perhaps you are reviewing law-enforcement produced or civil discovery (or a record on appeal) and come across a message string like this: 🔫🔪🩸😈🤵💵⛓️💀 What…
Imagine a one-page “notice to leave” taped to a house. Within the notice, the tenant is told: Your compliance with this NOTICE within _ days after its service will prevent any further eviction action against you. YOU ARE BEING ASKED TO LEAVE THE PREMISES. IF YOU DO NOT LEAVE, AN EVICTION ACTION MAY BE INITIATED…
Millions in the United States have impaired vision because of uncorrected refractive error, and many suffer vision impairment even after correction. A great many people cannot read small font or “the fine print.” Fantastic (but worrisome) examples of how those with different visual-related print disabilities struggle with print text are included in this informative, one-hour…
Federal District Court Judge William L. Campbell, Jr. (Middle District, Tennessee) just issued a written opinion that effectively models how to translate Tweet and emoji images into understandable text-based legal writing. The Complaint’s Exhibit B image was the original product the judge had to work with. The imaged Tweet and its content were important for…