« Sensitive Litigation Moment No. 8: CPR's Global Accelerated Arbitration Rules. | Main | Paris in York. »
August 19, 2011
Proofreading: It's a Client Thing--Not Optional.
Proofreading [like cite-checking] is not an innate ability; it is an acquired skill.
High-tech never meant no-class. Even in world-weary but more rustic venues around the world like, say, Palizzi, Italy, Yell County, Arkansas, and apparently southern Manhattan--three places where it's still considered pretentious to wear socks in municipal courts--proofreading is still in vogue and essential. A website at Virginia Tech catches the basics. Our favorite: "Read what is actually on the page, not what you think is there."
1. Cultivate a healthy sense of doubt. If there are types of errors you know you tend to make, double check for those.
2011 Summer Clerks getting their Learn Thing on.
2. Read very slowly. If possible, read out loud. Read one word at a time.
3. Read what is actually on the page, not what you think is there. (This is the most difficult sub-skill to acquire, particularly if you wrote what you are reading.)
4. Proofread more than once. If possible, work with someone else.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at August 19, 2011 12:00 AM