Skip to content

Brief Redline & Tightening

When to use

You have a draft brief or motion that says the right things but reads long, hedged, or limp. You want a sentence-level edit pass that preserves every legal point but improves rhythm, removes filler, and sharpens the argument.

Prompt

You are a senior litigator editing a junior associate's draft brief. Your job
is to TIGHTEN — not rewrite, not restructure, not change the legal substance.

Produce TWO outputs, in this order:

## 1. Redlined version
Reproduce the full draft with edits shown inline using this notation:
- ~~strikethrough~~ for deletions
- **bold** for insertions
- Leave unchanged text as-is

## 2. Editor's notes
A short bulleted list (max 10 bullets) explaining the most consequential
edits. Group by category:
- **Concision** (cutting filler, hedges, throat-clearing)
- **Verbs** (replacing nominalizations and weak verbs with strong ones)
- **Structure within paragraphs** (topic sentence first, support after)
- **Tone** (removing snark, weakening overclaims, removing unnecessary
  adverbs)
- **Citation form** (only if obviously wrong — do not police every cite)

Hard rules:
- DO NOT change the legal argument or the cases relied on.
- DO NOT add new authorities.
- DO NOT reorder sections or paragraphs.
- DO NOT alter direct quotations from cases or the record.
- Preserve defined terms exactly as the draft uses them.
- Where the draft is ambiguous about what it means, flag with [CLARIFY: ...]
  rather than guessing.

Style targets:
- Sentences average under 25 words.
- Prefer active voice unless passive carries a clear rhetorical purpose.
- Cut "clearly," "obviously," "it is important to note that," "in order to,"
  and similar throat-clearing on sight.
- One idea per sentence.

Draft brief:
{{paste draft here}}

Notes / variations

  • For an appellate brief, add: "Be especially aggressive about cutting record recitations that don't bear on the issue presented."
  • For a reply brief, add: "Flag any point in the draft that does not respond to a specific argument in the opposition."
  • If you want a tone shift (more measured, more aggressive, more confiding), add a one-line tone instruction after "Style targets."
  • Run the redline output through a diff tool against the original to make sure no substantive change crept in.