---
name: ylj-writing-style
description: Use when revising prose to match The Yale Law Journal (YLJ) house style — clear, generalist-legible legal writing with a disciplined footnote-to-text balance. It governs voice and readability; it does not format citations (ylj-sources-and-bluebook) or sequence the argument (ylj-argument-structure).
---

# Writing Style (ylj-writing-style)

YLJ prose is read by a **generalist legal audience**: scholars in other fields, judges, clerks, and
practitioners. The house standard is clear, confident legal writing where the **text carries the
argument** and footnotes carry the support. This skill polishes voice and readability; citation form
lives in `ylj-sources-and-bluebook` and structure in `ylj-argument-structure`.

## When to trigger

- The argument is sound but the prose is dense, hedged, or jargon-heavy
- A subfield reader follows it but a generalist editor would stall
- The footnotes have swallowed the argument (text is thin, footnotes are essays)
- Final polish pass before submission or before the Forum's faster turnaround

## House-style priorities

1. **Text-first.** The argument must be followable from the text alone; footnotes support and elaborate
   but never *hide* a step the reader needs. If a key move lives only in a footnote, promote it.
2. **Generalist legibility.** Define terms of art on first use; don't assume the reader lives in your
   doctrine. A clerk in a different field should follow the through-line.
3. **Plain, confident voice.** Prefer the active voice and concrete subjects. State the claim; don't
   bury it under "it could be argued that." Hedge only where the law is genuinely uncertain.
4. **Topic sentences that argue.** Each paragraph opens with the claim it proves, not the subject it
   touches. A reader skimming topic sentences should get the argument.
5. **Footnote discipline.** Substance belongs in text; footnotes hold cites, qualifications, and
   genuinely tangential material. A footnote that is a second article competing with the text is a
   YLJ-specific tell of an undisciplined draft.

## Sentence and paragraph craft

- Cut throat-clearing ("It is important to note that"); start with the subject and verb.
- One idea per sentence; break the 60-word doctrinal sentence into two.
- Signpost transitions with logic ("Because…," "Yet…," "If that is right, then…"), not filler.
- Use defined short forms for repeated case/statute names; don't restate the full caption every time.

## The footnote-to-text balance (a YLJ pressure point)

| Symptom | Fix |
|---------|-----|
| 40% of the page is footnote | Promote argument to text; cut footnote essays to cites + key qualifier |
| The reader must read footnotes to follow the argument | Move the load-bearing reasoning up into the text |
| A footnote runs longer than its paragraph | Split: keep the cite; relocate substance or delete |
| Stacked *see also* with no parentheticals | Trim; add explanatory parentheticals only where they earn space |

## Checklist

- [ ] Argument followable from text alone; no load-bearing reasoning stranded in footnotes
- [ ] Terms of art defined on first use; generalist can follow
- [ ] Active voice and concrete subjects predominate; hedging only where warranted
- [ ] Topic sentences state claims, not topics
- [ ] Footnotes are support, not parallel essays; no footnote dwarfs its paragraph
- [ ] Length within the track's encouraged cap (Article < 25k / Essay < 15k / Forum < 10k)

## Anti-patterns

- A "great footnotes" draft where the text is a skeleton and the argument lives below the line
- Subfield jargon and undefined acronyms that lock out a generalist editor
- Passive, over-hedged prose that never commits to the claim
- Topic sentences that announce a subject instead of advancing the argument
- Padding to hit a perceived "Article length" — over-length weighs against acceptance

## Output format

```
【Voice】active + confident? generalist-legible? Y/N
【Text-first】argument followable without footnotes? Y/N
【Footnote balance】any footnote dwarfing its paragraph? fixed? Y/N
【Length】within track cap? Y/N
【Next】ylj-placement-strategy (where/when to submit) → ylj-submission
```

## Supplementary resources

- [`../../resources/worked-examples/01-introduction.md`](../../resources/worked-examples/01-introduction.md) — a dense intro rewritten for generalist legibility
- [`../../resources/official-source-map.md`](../../resources/official-source-map.md) — YLJ length / style facts