Legal prose is often a more pedestrian venture than a novel or a poem. However, even the pedestrian can be done well. The views of the professional writers considered in this book identify how lawyers can write legal prose well, and sometimes even beautifully. This book provides key lessons on legal writing that can be gleaned from various leading authors of the past and brought to bear in crafting more polished legal texts. Among the great authors considered are Joseph Conrad, Guy de Maupassant, E.M. Forster, Thomas Hardy, Henry James, D.H. Lawrence, Robert Louis Stevenson and Virginia Woolf. Central themes identified are: Legal writing should never be too difficult to understand; Great writers have much to teach the legal writer; Good writing requires hard work; Professional jargon is generally best avoided; and The truth is always pure, often simple, and generally best expressed in plain English. This book contains invaluable guidance to help all those involved in legal writing to hone their writing skills, while providing an engaging tour through the works of great authors from the past. All after-tax author royalties from this book will be donated to the Ukrainian relief efforts of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent movement.

Judges are increasingly aware that the best way of enhancing public confidence in court systems is not only by providing a quality service but doing so compassionately and respectfully. The art and craft of judgment-writing is a critical element of this process. This book looks at the judgments of historically great judgment-writers from the US, UK and wider common law world (in particular Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, Israel and New Zealand). It is written not from the perspective of what the author can teach but with the aim of identifying essential elements of good judgment-writing in great judgments and insightful commentary. Written by Dr Max Barrett, a judge of the High Court of Ireland, individual chapters focus on subjects such as judgment purpose, length, style and structure, concurring and dissenting judgments, judgment-writing for children and vulnerable parties, as well as more general lessons in good writing offered by great authors from Orwell to Twain. Among the lessons to be taken from great common law judges are that: a good judgment possesses an ability to rise above immediate facts and to see a problem in its wider perspective; a sense of empathy/sympathy for those faring badly is always important; and there is nothing wrong with language that is occasionally flowery and ornate; however, the best judgments are crisp and persuasive. A great author such as Mark Twain teaches, for example, that: every element of a judgment should be necessary to that judgment and any unnecessary element excised; any person or event included in a judgment should be included for a reason; and a judge should always use the right word for what she wants to state, 'not its second cousin'. This book is intended for novice superior court judges, their more seasoned colleagues and all with an interest in legal writing (including legal practitioners, law teachers and law students). Lower-court judges required to write judgments should find the book valuable; and judges at all levels should find the additional chapter on ex tempore judgments of use.

Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Act 2010: Annotated is a detailed and expert annotation of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010. The Act implements the Third Money Laundering Directive in Ireland. It replaces the Criminal Justice Act 1994 as the legislative centrepiece of Ireland's anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing regime. This annotated version of the new Act considers the: * Risk-based customer due diligence (or "CDD") requirements that the Act introduces * New provisions concerning politically exposed persons. * Reporting requirements arising under the Act. * Offence of "tipping off". * Provisions for the monitoring of designated persons by competent authorities. * Authorisation of trust or company service providers. * Approval of guidelines by the Minister for Justice and Law Reform. * Registration of persons directing private members' clubs at which gambling activities are carried on. * "Whistle-blowing" or "good faith reporting" provision made in the Act. This book also seeks to set the Act in its historical and wider legal context, making reference to international and European measures, most particularly the Third Money Laundering Directive, where appropriate. In addition the text identifies and briefly considers all the secondary legislation that has, at the time of writing, been made pursuant to the Act.