Book excerpt: Legal Writing from the Top Down is the renamed and thoroughly revised second edition of Timothy Perrin's best-selling Better Writing for Lawyers. The original book, published by the Law Society of Upper Canada (Ontario) in 1990, was required reading for every new lawyer in that province. It has been licensed for use in courses as far afield as Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia. This new edition incorporates new research on how to write effectively and new tools you can use to become a better, more persuasive lawyer.