Less is More

The launch of the firm’s new website was an interesting process. There were many similarities to practicing law from start to finish. Eventually (and gratefully) I was proven wrong on many fronts so chalk one up for professional website developers. One of my takeaways from the process is a strengthening of my belief in the power of editing. Mark Twain said “If I would have had more time I would have written a shorter letter.” That is one of my favorite quotes on editing. Good editing takes time. The process of cutting as much as possible in sentences, design and steps to capture the essence of an idea without sacrificing the meaning should be paramount. Dedication to the balance of form and function is an important foundation to efficient communication. Contrast good editing with tweets or texts that fail miserably to communicate never mind informing the recipient. Short is not the goal rather just enough is. Lawyers can be verbose so with more practice I have come to appreciate the simple “Yes” or “No” without painful narration. For me, communication is effectively a combination of using the fewest number of words to convey the maximum amount of meaning. Biblically the verse, “Jesus wept” is the best example of great editing. No other words need to be added to this sentence to convey the weight of losing a friend. Another great sentence that sets a scene is by Frost, “two roads diverged in a yellow wood,” we are immediately transformed while being filled with anticipation and intrigue. Seven words is all that it takes. We should try to accomplish more with less so we can all avoid verbosity. Funny thing is that after editing this I worry that I have missed a trove of extraneous words but I just don’t have the time to keep hunting.

Albert R. Hartley