The Party of the First Part

The Curious World of Legalese

Adam Freedman

Holt Paperbacks

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A “lighthearted but lucid explanation of legalese” that offers something for language lovers and legal eagles alike (William Safire, The New York Times Magazine)

For better or for worse, the instruction manual for today’s world is written by lawyers. Everyone needs to understand this manual—but lawyers persist in writing it in language no one can possibly decipher.

Why accuse someone of making “material misstatements of fact,” when you could just call them a liar? What’s the point of a “last” will and testament if, presumably, every will is your last? Did you know that “law” derives from a Norse term meaning “that which is laid down”? So tell your boss to stop laying down the law—it already is!

These language conundrums find their way every day into courtrooms, boardrooms, and, yes, even bedrooms. In The Party of the First Part, Adam Freedman takes on legalese and disputes the notion that lawyers are any smarter than the rest of us when judged solely on their briefs. (A brief, by the way, is never so.)

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Book Excerpts

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The Party of the First Part
1THE GLORY OF LEGALESE"Incorporeal" means "without a body." However, when a company is "incorporated" it is given a body.--CENTRE FOR PLAIN LEGAL LANGUAGE, 1995At 2:30 A.M. on March 22, 1997, a convicted felon named Anthony Dye was racing his Corvette through the streets of Elkhart, Indiana. The police were in hot pursuit. Dye pulled into his mother's driveway, got out of the car, and made a run for it. When the police caught up with him, Dye took a semiautomatic pistol from his waistband and opened fire.

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Reviews

Praise for The Party of the First Part

“If you ever wanted to go to law school but thought it would be painful and dull, you were right. Fortunately, Adam Freedman's wit and insight will give you in an afternoon what you need to navigate a lawyered-up world—and more laughs than you'd find in class, too.”—Kermit Roosevelt, Professor, University of Pennsylvania Law School and author of In the Shadow of the Law
 

"The Party of the First Part is a terrific achievement—a hugely entertaining book about a subject that is normally anything but.  Against all odds, it makes legal language come to life.  It's the kind of book I wish I'd read before law school, and the perfect read for non-lawyers who wonder what they're missing."—Jeremy Blachman, author of Anonymous Lawyer

 

"A lighthearted but lucid explanation of legalese."—William Safire, The New York Times

“A gem of a book: bright, lucid, and compelling. I found myself laughing out loud, and wondering why lawyers can’t just eat their torts and go home.”—Cameron Stracher, author of Double Billing and publisher of the New York Law School Law Review

“A cornucopia of hilarious, offbeat and downright bizarre examples of simple concepts contorted.”—Publishers Weekly

“[Freedman] has great fun with words and concepts and does a good job cutting through legal jargon.”—The San Diego Union-Tribune

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About the Author

Adam Freedman

Adam Freedman writes the “Legal Lingo” column for the New York Law Journal Magazine, and was a litigator before joining a major investment bank where he earns his living decoding policies and procedures into plain English. He holds degrees from Yale, Oxford, and the University of Chicago and has written for Newsweek International and Slate.com, among others. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Adam Freedman

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Available Formats and Book Details

The Party of the First Part
The Curious World of Legalese
Adam Freedman

Trade Paperback

Trade Paperback
Henry Holt and Co.
Holt Paperbacks
September 2008
Trade Paperback
ISBN: 9780805088595
ISBN10: 0805088598
5 x 7 15/16 inches, 256 pages
$16.00

Hardcover

Hardcover
Henry Holt and Co.
September 2007
Hardcover
ISBN: 9780805082234
ISBN10: 0805082239
5 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches, 256 pages
$23.00
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Holt Paperbacks

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