Legal writing is a unique form of composition. The legal style is characterized by a reliance upon nominalizations, archaisms, jargon, and foreign (especially French and Latin) terms and a scarcity of verbs and adverbs. Twelve judicial opinions, all on the subject of whether an advance degree should be considered marital property upon divorce, were examined for the presence of such stylistic features. In addition, the numbers of first-person references (i.e., "I,""me," or "this court") and references to "equity" and the "reasonable person" were evaluated. One of the opinions analyzed was taken from a New Zealand case, two were Canadian, and the rest were from American state courts. Analysis revealed that the language used by American judges suggests the possibility of a greater openness to novel legal arguments than is true of judges in other common law countries. (References to 13 cases and 16 other sources are attached.) (SG)