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17 Nova L. Rev. 965 (1992-1993)

handle is hein.journals/novalr17 and id is 997 raw text is: Good Humor on The Bench: Just Desserts in a Judicial Diet Rodger L. Hochman* Lawyers, long the subject of jokes,' are themselves often portrayed as humorless.2 Given the special and often puzzling legal terminology and structured form of most legal drafting,3 and that much of legal writing re- quires the attorney to avoid qualities of ornamentation,4 it is easy to see why attorneys are perceived as humorless. The historic view of judges as omnipotent, stern and sober, with powdered wig, staring down from a lofty bench has further contributed to this perception. Rare, however, is the attorney who has never encountered judicial humor.' Judicial opinion writing, as any form of legal writing, requires precision, conciseness, simplicity, clarity and forcefulness.6 With the possible * Rodger Hochman, often mistaken for Robin Williams in appearance only, is a law student at the Shepard Broad Law Center of Nova University. 1. Lawyer jokes would seem to be 'even more common than lawyers themselves. One dependable source of lawyer jokes is Playboy Magazine's monthly Party Jokes section. In addition, a collection of cartoon illustrations lampooning attorneys can be found in, BiLL BERGER & RIcARDO MAR iNEZ, WHAT TO Do WITH A DEAD LAWYER (1988). 2. Raymond T. Elligett, Jr., Legal Wit & Wisdom, FIA. BJ., Mar. 1992, at 19. 3. Many organizations have campaigned against the over-legalization of American society, and some nonlawyers (such as paralegals) have begun to offer legal advice. The legal profession, not surprisingly, has responded by charging these non-lawyers with unauthorized practice of the law! 4. RUGGERO J. ALDISERT, OPINION WRITING 243 (1990). The author is a senior United States Circuit Judge. 5. For most lawyers exposure occurs within a few weeks of starting law school. The classic first year text WILI.AM L PROSSER ET AL, CASES AND MATERIALS ON TORTS (8th ed. 1988) contains the case Cordas v. Peerless Transp. Co., 27 N.Y.S.2d 198 (1941) (where the court considers whether a taxi driver's actions while at gunpoint constitute negligence). The entire case, nearly four pages long, is presented in a single paragraph and is written in the style of a would-be pulp novelist or wannabe playwright: The chauffeur in reluctant acquiescence proceeded about fifteen feet, when his hair, like unto the quills of the fretful porcupine, was made to stand on end by the hue and cry of the man despoiled accompanied by a clamorous concourse of the law-abiding which paced him as he ran; the concatenation of stop thief, to which the patter of persistent feet did maddeningly beat time, rang in his ears as the pursuing posse all the while gained on the receding cab with its quarry therein contained. Id. at 199. 6. See Aldisert, supra note 4, at 243.

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