Between civil trial rules and good writing advice

The essence of synthesis does not depend on the number of pages of a judicial document, nor the number of lines per page. It depends on the relationship between the complexity of the issues and the overall scope of the text. Synthesis does not mean brevity at any cost, but the author’s ability to organize their reasoning in accordance with an objective. Synthesis means eliminating unnecessary arguments, while tailoring the text proportionately to the complexity of the dispute. However, changes introduced by the reform of the Italian civil trial, which took place at the end of 2022, have changed the situation for legal writing. The reform now imposes clear and concise drafting of all judicial documents and prescribes formal criteria and length limits. To preserve expressive freedom, legal writers must work on multiple levels at once. They must select appropriate language, technical as necessary but also understandable to users; organise reasoning and arguments in effective ways; and rediscover the art of eloquence. A balance must be found between the two equally important principles of synthesis and conciseness, on one hand; and, on the other hand, the necessity of taking a position on all opposing arguments and, in the case of appeals, of precisely identifying the specific part of the decision contested, and addressing each of the reasons provided by the judgment.