A: My thanks to Attorney Parish for this interesting question (which is the usual response of a speaker to an audience member who has asked a question the speaker can't answer). Authorities are surprisingly silent on "General Ashcroft" as an address, but we have all heard television's talking heads use that term. It may be acceptable in informal use, but in letters or formal documents, use "Attorney General John Ashcroft." That is the title that The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage tells its journalists to use. And Allen Morris, nationally recognized author of Protocol, a handbook used by officials in Florida and in other states, says that attorneys general should always be addressed in correspondence as "Dear Attorney General."
Q:Reading the sports section this morning, my son pointed this sentence out to me, and asked, "Is this correct?" The sentence, "Sosa and Choi each hit his second homer of the season." I see two issues in the sentence, although it seems correct as written: The first is "his" vs. "their." The second is "homer" vs. "homers." Should "his" be replaced with "their"?
A:My thanks to David Blumenthal, who sent this question via his father Jeffrey. With the word and, the singular pronoun each is incorrect. So it would be better to say "Both Sosa and Choi hit their second homers of the season." The compound subject ("Sosa and Choi") requires the plural referent pronoun "their." You might re-phrase the statement to use the singular homer: "Both Sosa and Choi hit a second homer of the season." The choice is stylistic, not grammatical.
Q:Please help! When it appears in the middle of a sentence, is the proper term website, web site, Web site, or Web Site?
A:My thanks to Mr. Mike Getty, who sent this question, which illustrates one type of semantics, the reduction of a term from a two-word phrase to a single word. This evolution has occurred so rapidly in computer language that it leaves many, like Mr. Getty, confused about what is currently appropriate. The term was first stated as World Wide Web site, but it quickly evolved to become a two-word term, Web site, and then to its current one-word form, website along the way dropping its capitalization and accouterments.
Computers users have quickly contracted other computer terms, like homepage, online, and printout. The single word email has become more popular than the hyphenated e-mail (though the editor of another bar journal for which I write recently asked me to replace the hyphens I had omitted in my column). Almost invariably, wide use changes two-word phrases to hyphenated words, and finally to one word. One illustration: mailman, which started out as mail man, then became mail-man, and finally mailman. (That, however, may be replaced by mailperson.)
FROM THE MAILBAG:
One reader commented on the quotation with which I ended my previous column, Humpty Dumpty's comment (in Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland"): "When I use a word ... it means just what I choose it to mean-neither more nor less." The reader writes that nowhere is that more true than in politics, and she points to a recent example. Before the Iraq war, President Bush characterized anti-war opposition as "focus groups," thus suggesting that they were few and insignificant. That disparaging language, she suggested, helped propel us into the war against Iraq.
The proposition that language creates a sort of "virtual reality" is accepted by both political parties. Frank Luntz, a Republican strategist, called on Republicans to use "softer, greener language" in their messages on the environment, their most vulnerable issue. And a consultant for the Sierra Club acknowledged that the new language had succeeded in blunting the Democratic attack.
Georgia Congressman Nathan Deal recently attempted to slip into a farm bill at the last minute and without debatea paragraph that would define as "organic" the products of farmers who gave their livestock non-organic feed. Had it not been for the bipartisan uproar that resulted, that language would have expanded the meaning of organic to include inorganic ingredients.
An article in the The New York Times (May 8, 2003), discussed a proposed change in the EPA's traditional view that all lives saved by clean air are equally valuable. Now, instead, the EPA reportedly planned to value the life of a person younger than 70 at $3.7 million, and the life of an over-70-year-old to $2.3 million (a 37% difference).
Horrified critics immediately dubbed the policy "the senior death discount," and that title doomed the plan. EPA chief Christie Whitman hurriedly announced that the policy had never been applied in decision-making and never would. "The senior discount factor has been stopped," announced Ms. Whitman.
More evidence of the power of language to change behavior.
Gertrude Block is Lecturer Emerita at the University of Florida College of Law. Her book, "Effective Legal Writing" (Foundation Press), is now available in a 5th edition (1999), with an accompanying instructor's manual. Ms. Block is also co-author of the "Judicial Opinion Writing Manual" (published by the American Bar Association, 1991). Send questions to the ISBA Bar News Language Tips, Illinois State Bar Association, Illinois Bar Center, Springfield, IL 62701, or e-mail her at block@law.ufl.edu.
Greg Colomb, an internationally recognized speaker and writing consultant, will be presenting two programs during the ISBA Annual Meeting June 20 and 21 at The Abbey on Lake Geneva.
The Friday afternoon and Saturday morning seminars will focus on writing "Clear and Direct Prose," and composing "Informative and Persuasive Documents."
A founding partner of Clearlines, a communications consulting firm, Colomb has spoken at previous ISBA meetings and received rave reviews. His programs provide instruction on using language as a tool in practice by making the lawyer a more effective writer.
"He is as good a speaker on the subject as you'll ever find," said Mark S. Mathewson, managing editor of the Illinois Bar Journal. "His message is not merely one of 'plain language,' but one that implores you to think about what you are attempting to accomplish, and to adjust your writing style to conform to your goals."
Among Colomb's consultancies are companies such as Bank of America, IBM, Pfizer and Shell Oil, and law firms that include Altheimer & Gray, Baker & McKenzie, and Jenner & Block.
"So, what will it cost to join this list of those who have benefited from Professor Colomb's expertise? Only $50 per half-day session," Mathewson said. On-site registration will be available.
Global litigation aired
Former U.S. attorneys Anton Valukas of Jenner & Block, Daniel K. Webb of Winston & Strawn and Tyrone Fahner of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw will speak during the conference, "Plotting Litigation Strategy in the Global Context," Thursday and Friday, June 19-20, at the Hotel Inter-Continental in Chicago.
The International Bar Association will conduct the broad overview of transnational litigation tactics and explore current issues in an interactive format designed to encourage dialogue among panelists and participants.
Thursday topics are Selecting the Right Forum, Avoiding an Unfavorable Forum, Securing the Chosen Forum, and Practical Problems in the International Arena. Judge Diane Wood of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit will speak during the buffet luncheon.
Friday topics are Direct Cooperation Between Courts of Different Nations, Selecting and Managing Foreign Counsel, and Ethical Issues in International Litigation. The program will conclude with remarks by London attorney Campbell McLachlan, chair of the International Litigation Committee.
Illinois Institute CLE
Call (800) 252-8062 for a schedule of upcoming seminars that will be conducted by the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education. Among them are:
Choice of Business Entities in 2003: To Change or Not to Change? Wednesday, June 18, at the Par-a-Dice Hotel, East Peoria, and Wednesday, June 25, at the University Club of Chicago.
Illinois Estate Administration: Process and Practice Friday, June 20, at the UBS Tower Conference Center, Chicago.
Representing Not-for-Profit Corporations in Illinois Tuesday, June 24, at the UBS Tower Conference Center, Chicago.
Hands-on Civil Discovery Workshop: Successfully Managing Legal and Strategic Challenges Thursday, June 26, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Springfield, and Friday, June 27, at the UBS Tower Conference Center, Chicago.
Winnebago County Bar
The Winnebago County Bar Association will present a Workers' Compensation Update from 12:50 to 4:30 p.m. Thursday, June 19, at Giovanni's Restaurant. A luncheon at 12 noon will precede the program. Call (815) 964-4992.
Speakers include Dennis R. Ruth of Maryville, an arbitrator for the Illinois Industrial Commission and member of the ISBA Workers' Compensation Law Section Council.
Mass Tort Litigation
"The Knowledge to Conquer: Mass Torts Made Perfect, a two-day seminar on securities, drug and environmental litigation, will be held Thursday and Friday, June 19-20, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Chicago.
Presenters include Johnnie Cochran, Linda Fairstein and Don King. Call (800) 320-2227 for registration details.
Criminal Defense Lawyers
The Illinois Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers will conduct a DUI Defense Seminar from 8:45 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Friday, June 20, at the Holiday Inn Conference Center in Urbana. To register, call (773) 643-4225.
ISBA Traffic Laws and Courts Section Council members Donald J. Ramsell of Wheaton and Edward M. Maloney of Skokie, respectively, will speak at 9 a.m. on DUI Forfeiture and Blood Issues, and Secretary of State Administrative Relief at 10 a.m.
Thomas M. Moran of Skokie will follow at 11:15 a.m. with DUI: Drug vs. Alcohol. After lunch, a Legislative Update will be given at 1:15 p.m. by Stephen W. Baker of Naperville, a member of the ISBA Assembly and Criminal Justice Section Council.
At 2:15 p.m., D. Peter Wise of Springfield will review Field Sobriety Testing issues. A 3:30 p.m. presentation on Formal Hearings of the Secretary of State will precede discussion by Paul DeLuca of Oakbrook Terrace on Sufficiency of Warnings to Motorists.
Federal Bar
A seminar on representing non-citizens in criminal and removal proceedings will be conducted by the Chicago chapter of the Federal Bar Association from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, June 27, at the Chicago Bar Association.
Titled "Aggravated Felony Convictions and Mandatory Detention," the program includes morning discussions on criminal proceedings and afternoon presentations on removal proceedings. Judge Elaine E. Bucklo of U.S. District Court and Immigration Judge Robert D. Vinikoor will preside.
The registration fees of $85 for members and $95 for non-members include lunch and the Cook County public defender manual, "Representing Non-citizen Criminal Defendants in the State of Illinois. Call (815) 464-9068.
University of Illinois
The University of Illinois College of Law and the Mirza Foundation for Advocacy and Justice will present the Jerome Mirza Professional Trial Lawyers College of Advocacy from July 16 to 19 in Champaign. Call (888) 827-3399.
Faculty members include ISBA past presidents Jerome Mirza and Terrence K. Hegarty, retired Supreme Court justice Benjamin K. Miller, and Thomas M. Harris, a member of the ISBA Committee on Supreme Court Rules and the Illinois Bar Journal Editorial Board.
A landmark 19th century house in DesMoines, Iowa, is being renovated for the new headquarters of the American Judicature Society, which has established a partnership with Drake University.
The building at 2700 University Ave., a former school presidents' residence, will become The Opperman Center in recognition of support from attorney Dwight Opperman, past CEO of West Publishing.
The AJS move to the Drake campus after 90 years in Chicago was completed June 1. Call Allan D. Sobel at (515) 271-2282 for more information.
Central Illinois Women
Springfield attorney April G. Troemper of Heyl, Royster, Voelker & Allen, a member of the Illinois Bar Foundation board, is president of the Central Illinois Women's Bar Association, which is conducting a membership drive. Call her at (217) 522-8822, ext. 223.
Chicago Bar
The Chicago firm of Corboy & Demetrio will be host for a reception in honor of Michael K. Demetrio, incoming president of the Chicago Bar Association, from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 26, at the Mid America Club at 200 E. Randolph Drive.
Demetrio will be installed June 26 during a luncheon at the Standard Club. Call Kathy McEnroe, (312) 554-2057, for reservations at either event.
Government Bar
Results of Government Bar Association elections will be announced during a reception from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 26, at the Corkscrew Wine Emporium in Springfield. Call Keleigh Biggins, (217) 785-2283.
Slated candidates are Arden Lang of the State Appellate Defender Office, for president; Heidi Scott, vice president; Keleigh Biggins, secretary, and Margaret Van Dijk, treasurer.