I recently was working on a blog post on how various stresses placed on lawyers could result in unchecked citations. The title of the post was Billable Hour Demand, Shadow Use of AI and Law Reality: It’s a Hot Mess.
After it was more or less complete, I ran it by one of the public LLMs for comment. It made several suggestions including the deletion of the term “hot mess.” I asked it several times for clarity about why it wanted to remove the term without getting a clear answer. I finally said, “I really like the term because it correctly describes what is going on and I’m putting it in the title.” The LLM then replied, “Great idea–that term really captures what you’re trying to say!” The post went on to get more clicks and likes than many others I have done.
I mention this not only because it once again demonstrates that AI tools really want to please you and will tell you what you want to hear. But more importantly, it’s an example of why as a writer, you can’t just rely on AI if you want to attract readership and create your own style.
Before AI, I, like many writers, would go through several drafts and change things frequently before being satisfied with the final product. But if AI had been around and I had relied on it more or less completely, I might not have gotten a final product I was proud of. No hot mess.
That’s because words matter. Names matter. The turn of a phrase is important and can turn writing into something memorable. And there’s plenty of historical examples.
It’s rumored that the famous last line of the Hemingway book The Sun Also Rises — “isn’t it pretty to think so” — was rewritten by Hemingway several times. The line is the final one in the book and comes when two people are discussing a love affair they could never have. One of the characters muses they could have had such a good time together. The other character then utters the famous line. The line “isn’t it pretty to think so” pretty well sums up the point of the book and the times in which it was written.
But it’s commonly believed that at one point Hemingway considered using the line “isn’t it nice to think so.” Whether that’s true or not, using the word nice in the line would make it like a weak handshake: yucky. It fails to capture the bite and tension of the story. It’s not as haunting.
Another example: reportedly the line “government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth” from the Gettysburg address was originally “government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish upon the earth.” Changes the impact considerably.
How about this one: Winston Churchill’s line from his Battle of Britain speech: “This was their finest hour.” Reportedly the line was originally “This could prove to be their finest hour.” Not the same rallying cry to a public desperate for hope and good news.
And maybe most significantly, Dr. Martin Luther King’s famous line “I have a dream” was not in his original speech drafts. What was in his drafts was “I have a plan,” or “I have a vision.” He spontaneously added “I have a dream” when he was delivering the speech. The words “plan” or “vision” fail to have same eloquence and simply aren’t stirring.
What did all these people have in common? They started with a concept and worked hard to come up with the best way to sufficiently express that concept.
I thought about this when I heard the new name for the AffiniPay group of companies: 8am. The concept behind the name was that it summarized in two words what the group of companies is all about: helping lawyers do non-billable work that they don’t like doing. The conventional wisdom is to do what you don’t like early in the day. So 8am captures the essence of what the companies do.
Again, words matter, titles matter.
LLMs (Don’t) Say the Darndest Things
Certainly, you can use LLMs to help you write. But what might happen if we ran some of the above examples by an LLM?
The end of The Sun Also Rises would have been “In another life maybe.”
Dr. King’s “I have a dream” would turn into “the future isn’t something we wait for—it’s something we create together.”
8am would be The Legal Edge.
See what overreliance on LLMs get you? Boring. Not memorable. Obfuscating what you are trying to say. Or distorting your meaning entirely.
Lessons for Lawyers
There’s an important lesson here for lawyers. We are in the business of communication. Of persuasion. How do you best communicate and persuade? By making what you say interesting and memorable. By treating words with importance and respect. By using words that capture what you are trying to say in a way the person you are communicating with will understand and will stick in their minds. An LLM can’t do that. At least not yet.
Remember Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., when discussing the limits to the First Amendment, didn’t just say the First Amendment is not absolute. Instead, he said: “Free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic.” Conveys the point in a clear and memorable way.
But Wait…
But wait, you say. Can’t LLMs come up with the kind of phrases that catch your eye and distill concepts down to something memorable?
Maybe. But an LLM will likely not give you the kind of phrase you really need, at least not without a lot of work. And maybe not even then. But with work on your end, it might be able to give you something that you can mold into those kinds of words.
Ivy Grey, the Chief Strategy and Growth Officer of WorkRake, said in a recent whitepaper, “Legal writing is not simply assembling words or producing text. It is the result of analysis, strategy and judgement.” It is that analysis, strategy and judgment that allows you to take what an LLM gives you and turns into something that can communicate and persuade. The genius of Hemingway was not only that he came up with the words to end his book. It was that he recognized when he had it. He knew conceptually what he wanted to do. He used his own “analysis, strategy and judgment.”
You still have to do the work.
Words Matter
A single word, a small change, can alter tone, power, and even how your writing is remembered. Don’t cede that to a robot.
Don’t let LLMs hijack your style for the sake of expediency. Don’t be tempted to think that how an LLM writes something is necessarily better than you. Don’t substitute speed for the good. Words matter.
And how do you get the analysis, strategy, and judgment to know when you got something good? Have a concept. Know what you are trying to really convey. Look to be concise.
One final point: read. Read good books by authors who know how use words effectively and memorably. It will help you to, as Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart once said about obscenity in a famous case, “know it when you see it.”
Stephen Embry is a lawyer, speaker, blogger, and writer. He publishes TechLaw Crossroads, a blog devoted to the examination of the tension between technology, the law, and the practice of law.
The post Dear ChatGPT: Words Matter appeared first on Above the Law.
I recently was working on a blog post on how various stresses placed on lawyers could result in unchecked citations. The title of the post was Billable Hour Demand, Shadow Use of AI and Law Reality: It’s a Hot Mess.
After it was more or less complete, I ran it by one of the public LLMs for comment. It made several suggestions including the deletion of the term “hot mess.” I asked it several times for clarity about why it wanted to remove the term without getting a clear answer. I finally said, “I really like the term because it correctly describes what is going on and I’m putting it in the title.” The LLM then replied, “Great idea–that term really captures what you’re trying to say!” The post went on to get more clicks and likes than many others I have done.
I mention this not only because it once again demonstrates that AI tools really want to please you and will tell you what you want to hear. But more importantly, it’s an example of why as a writer, you can’t just rely on AI if you want to attract readership and create your own style.
Before AI, I, like many writers, would go through several drafts and change things frequently before being satisfied with the final product. But if AI had been around and I had relied on it more or less completely, I might not have gotten a final product I was proud of. No hot mess.
That’s because words matter. Names matter. The turn of a phrase is important and can turn writing into something memorable. And there’s plenty of historical examples.
It’s rumored that the famous last line of the Hemingway book The Sun Also Rises — “isn’t it pretty to think so” — was rewritten by Hemingway several times. The line is the final one in the book and comes when two people are discussing a love affair they could never have. One of the characters muses they could have had such a good time together. The other character then utters the famous line. The line “isn’t it pretty to think so” pretty well sums up the point of the book and the times in which it was written.
But it’s commonly believed that at one point Hemingway considered using the line “isn’t it nice to think so.” Whether that’s true or not, using the word nice in the line would make it like a weak handshake: yucky. It fails to capture the bite and tension of the story. It’s not as haunting.
Another example: reportedly the line “government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth” from the Gettysburg address was originally “government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish upon the earth.” Changes the impact considerably.
How about this one: Winston Churchill’s line from his Battle of Britain speech: “This was their finest hour.” Reportedly the line was originally “This could prove to be their finest hour.” Not the same rallying cry to a public desperate for hope and good news.
And maybe most significantly, Dr. Martin Luther King’s famous line “I have a dream” was not in his original speech drafts. What was in his drafts was “I have a plan,” or “I have a vision.” He spontaneously added “I have a dream” when he was delivering the speech. The words “plan” or “vision” fail to have same eloquence and simply aren’t stirring.
What did all these people have in common? They started with a concept and worked hard to come up with the best way to sufficiently express that concept.
I thought about this when I heard the new name for the AffiniPay group of companies: 8am. The concept behind the name was that it summarized in two words what the group of companies is all about: helping lawyers do non-billable work that they don’t like doing. The conventional wisdom is to do what you don’t like early in the day. So 8am captures the essence of what the companies do.
Again, words matter, titles matter.
LLMs (Don’t) Say the Darndest Things
Certainly, you can use LLMs to help you write. But what might happen if we ran some of the above examples by an LLM?
The end of The Sun Also Rises would have been “In another life maybe.”
Dr. King’s “I have a dream” would turn into “the future isn’t something we wait for—it’s something we create together.”
8am would be The Legal Edge.
See what overreliance on LLMs get you? Boring. Not memorable. Obfuscating what you are trying to say. Or distorting your meaning entirely.
Lessons for Lawyers
There’s an important lesson here for lawyers. We are in the business of communication. Of persuasion. How do you best communicate and persuade? By making what you say interesting and memorable. By treating words with importance and respect. By using words that capture what you are trying to say in a way the person you are communicating with will understand and will stick in their minds. An LLM can’t do that. At least not yet.
Remember Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., when discussing the limits to the First Amendment, didn’t just say the First Amendment is not absolute. Instead, he said: “Free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic.” Conveys the point in a clear and memorable way.
But Wait…
But wait, you say. Can’t LLMs come up with the kind of phrases that catch your eye and distill concepts down to something memorable?
Maybe. But an LLM will likely not give you the kind of phrase you really need, at least not without a lot of work. And maybe not even then. But with work on your end, it might be able to give you something that you can mold into those kinds of words.
Ivy Grey, the Chief Strategy and Growth Officer of WorkRake, said in a recent whitepaper, “Legal writing is not simply assembling words or producing text. It is the result of analysis, strategy and judgement.” It is that analysis, strategy and judgment that allows you to take what an LLM gives you and turns into something that can communicate and persuade. The genius of Hemingway was not only that he came up with the words to end his book. It was that he recognized when he had it. He knew conceptually what he wanted to do. He used his own “analysis, strategy and judgment.”
You still have to do the work.
Words Matter
A single word, a small change, can alter tone, power, and even how your writing is remembered. Don’t cede that to a robot.
Don’t let LLMs hijack your style for the sake of expediency. Don’t be tempted to think that how an LLM writes something is necessarily better than you. Don’t substitute speed for the good. Words matter.
And how do you get the analysis, strategy, and judgment to know when you got something good? Have a concept. Know what you are trying to really convey. Look to be concise.
One final point: read. Read good books by authors who know how use words effectively and memorably. It will help you to, as Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart once said about obscenity in a famous case, “know it when you see it.”
Stephen Embry is a lawyer, speaker, blogger, and writer. He publishes TechLaw Crossroads, a blog devoted to the examination of the tension between technology, the law, and the practice of law.
The post Dear ChatGPT: Words Matter appeared first on Above the Law.
