Customer Reviews

Burton's Legal Thesaurus, Fourth Edition

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"Good luck," my employer wished as he handed me a plane ticket and a tome of a background packet. I was leaving on a critical six-week business trip to an alien state in the midwest. No problem - except that five days prior the law review had accepted me as one of three evening division 2Ls for candidacy and my first case abstracts were due in twenty days. Hmmm . . .

From my hotel room, I scanned, identified, analyzed, condensed, reviewed, and rewrote the abstracts. Then did it again. And again. And again. But I was missing something. I was missing that "oomph" that propels a reader when reading legal material. And I didn't know what to do.

I decided to take a "creative" break down at the local (bookstore). Of course, I immediately gravitated to the law section of the store and, before you could say "double espresso, please," I had found it! Burton's Legal Thesaurus.

I opened the pages and my heart fluttered. Over 5,000 entries, legal synonyms for any legal term that came to mind, definitions, an overview of federal "plain language" requirements, associated legal concepts, and the list goes on! I wiped away a tear.

I rushed back to my hotel room and my fingers began flying over the laptop. My abstracts sang with power and precision! I could feel the reader compelled - nay, helpless - to turn the page! Burton's Legal Thesaurus had saved the day! I was now a jurisprudence scholar!

Eh, not really. But it really helped out when I didn't have access to my usual materials. However, one thing of which I can assure you, I'll be using this thesaurus for the rest of my career. If you've ever tried to write a legal document with a conventional thesaurus, you've probably felt the same way I did - close, but not close enough. But where do I find "close enough"? Read some more cases? Subscribe to a half dozen law journals? Hang out with the professors? This book definitely dispenses with that problem. You'll find everything you need to write a work filled with persuasion and vigor contained within its pages. If you're not that creative with legal lingo (as I, obviously, am not), you need to order it now. Frankly, you're putting yourself at a serious disadvantage if you don't.

I have found that at this stage in my career, (1993 graduate) I really no longer have any need for looking up the definitions of legal words. I pretty much know the definition of most legal words, certainly all of the ones in my field. However, whether I am writing a Registration Statement, a Coverage Letter or even just a Memo to File, I constantly find myself in search of just the right word which accurately describes the point I am trying to communicate. Other times I might be trying to figuring out a new way to reiterated the same point in a document without sounding repetitive. Especially now with the SEC's new "Plain English Rules" in effect, attorneys are required to relay information to investors in fewer pages, while making the information easier for investors to understand. To put it bluntly, I find Burton's Legal Thesaurus to be an indispensable tool in the lawyers arsenal. No lawyer, paralegal, law student, law professor or judge should be without one.

Burton's Legal Thesaurus (3d Edition) is an excellent legal reference tool that lawyers, law students, legal researchers, legal writers, and law librarians must have on their bookshelf. It is an effective tool for identifying legal synonyms and related terms. Because of the shift from arcane legal writing to plain language, legal writers will find this source to be useful in writing clear and concise legal documents. It provides alternative or similar terms that will aid in researching in electronic sources. The format of the book is excellent; it has an index which allows you to cross-reference terms to the main entry which provides the definition of a term as well as additional information.

Next to case law, I find Burton's Legal Thesaurus indispensible in writing appellate briefs. I only wish it were available in a downloadable form for use with my word processing program.

This is the legal thesaurus that all my law professors suggested. So far it has been very helpful in research and writing.

This book, now in its fourth edition, is an essential companion to Black's Law Dictionary, Garner's Legal Usage book, and other essential legal reference books. Great for law students, lawyers, judges, paralegals/legal assistants, and just about anyone else dealing with legal language. This book gives alternatives to stilted, overused, and misused, language. Worth the price (especially if one compare it on a site like Nextag, Shopzilla, and others).

Burton's Legal Thesaurus is an invaluable writing tool, and a "must have" for any law school student who wants to get ahead. Burton's Legal Thesaurus should sit right next to Black's Dictionary on the bookshelf of any serious lawyer.

An easy-to-use, invaluable tool for anyone. Gives new meaning to an old phrase: choose your words carefully. Bravo!

The essence of Law is succinct communication. The correct word is essential. There is NO other place to look. This is THE book for lawyers.

A must-have for the lawyer who is always looking for the perfect word or phrase. I pull this out all the time for motion practice, but it has really been key for some Federal Circuit briefs. I've never quite figured out why the index is half the book, and what the difference is from the "thesaurus" part, but it's all good. I bought a used copy in great condition, and wonder why someone would give this up!