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ARTICLE · 18 AUGUST 2026

Making The Complex Clear: A Guide To Accessible Legal Writing

Ward and Smith, P.A
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Effective legal writing requires more than just presenting arguments—it demands careful attention to how those arguments flow together. This installment explores the critical role of topic sentences and signposts in creating persuasive briefs that guide readers seamlessly through complex legal analysis, moving beyond traditional IRAC and CREAC structures to build truly accessible arguments.

United StatesLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
Chris Edwards
Chris Edwards

Ed. Note: This article is the third of five installments in our Writing to Persuade: An Appellate Lawyer’s Guide to Legal Writing series. Read Part One and Part Two.

Last time, we talked about macro strategies for making your legal writing more accessible, using tables of contents wisely and structuring your brief in a logical order that tracks both the relief you’re requesting and the strength of your legal argument.

In this edition, I want to address how to make individual arguments more accessible. Law school taught us to use the IRAC (issue, rule, application, conclusion) and CREAC (conclusion, rule, explanation, application, conclusion) structures for legal analysis. Whatever the merit of those structures (and I don’t think they have much), they elide one of the most important aspects of good legal writing, making sure that each paragraph in your brief flows together, makes a single point, and convinces your reader.

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