The legal profession demands, above all else, clarity of expression.  We can help you achieve this for the full range of documents your firm produces, including court papers, business proposals, press releases, letters.  

In the competitive legal profession, words can be essential to your success and image.

Whether you seek basic proofreading or structural overhaul, we can help give your firm's documents the polish and precision they deserve.  

  Perhaps the most underrated step in the editorial process is proofreading -- checking for errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, and verb usage.  Software tools offer some assistance but often fall short.  Proofreading is the final step before the document is released to the public, and typographical errors, even one such error, can ruin an otherwise exemplary work effort.  

This may be all your document needs, and we will be glad to give it a word-by-word going over to search for errors you may have missed..  Or your document may require more stylistic or substantive editorial review.  Whatever your editorial needs, we would be glad to help you meet them.  

We offer three levels of editorial review: 

Proofreading  
Correcting for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and verb/tense usage.  Text is not changed except to resolve grammatical errors.

Copyediting
In addition to a proofreading check, copyediting seeks to achieve consistency of style and clear up confusing or awkward writing. 

Substantive Editing
Involves reorganization and rewriting as necessary to fill in any gaps in logic and ensure consistency in tone.  The objective is to improve the document's overall clarity while preserving the author's original intent and style.  Substantive editing does not include fact checking or accuracy of legal references.

In his excellent Elements of Legal Style (Oxford University Press, 2002) Bryan A. Garner, Editor in Chief of Black's Law Dictionary, notes that "style" sometimes takes a backseat to "content."  But he advises that the two be kept on equal footing.  When style suffers, he says, so does content; and when the style is good, the content benefits.

Mr. Garner argues that "the chief aim of style is clarity.  But achieving clarity is only the first step; much remains -- brevity, for example, and accuracy.  Variety, elegance, imagination, force, and wit can make your prose convincing as well as clear.  Often you must do more than communicate; you must persuade."

At WANT Publishing, it is this clarity of style that we seek to help you achieve.

Just send us an email – Editor@wantpublishing.com -- describing your job, including its length, the level of editing involved (proofreading, copyediting, substantive editing), and the turnaround you require.  We will then email you a rough estimate of the time and costs involved.  If you wish, you can then send us the document itself.  Once we receive it, we will provide a firm cost proposal, and not begin any work until we have your approval.   

We prefer that you send work via email attachments (we can accept material in Word, WordPerfect, PDF, or HTML format). You can also fax material to us or send hard copy by U.S. mail or overnight express. 

All work that a law firm submits to us for editing is recognized as the firm's intellectual property and will be held by us in the strictest confidence.  Unless you request otherwise, your files will be retained by us for one-month after completion of the job.

Please do not hesitate to contact us by phone or email,  Editor@wantpublishing.com.  We will respond to your query right away. 

If you like, we would be glad to meet with you in our offices, which are conveniently located adjacent to Grand Central Station, New York City.  

The editorial team is led by Robert S. Want, an experienced editor and research attorney.

In 1975 Mr. Want founded WANT Publishing Co., which offered print and online law reference products to the legal community. In 2005 these products were purchased by CQ Press (www.cqpress.com), a division of Congressional Quarterly Inc.

Mr. Want is now editor and publisher of NationsCourts.com, which offers litigation tracking services.  He also serves as editor of Your Nation's Courts Series, consisting of print and online directories of the nation's federal, state, and county courts.

Prior to starting WANT Publishing Co., Mr. Want was a Research Associate at the Library of Congress (Congressional Research Service). He has an M.A. degree (Economics) and a J.D. degree, both from George Washington University (Washington, DC). 

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Legal Notice: WANT Publishing makes a diligent effort on any editorial review project it undertakes but accepts  no 
liability resulting from any errors that may remain.  We are not engaged in the practice of law and do not offer legal advice.