The entire process of legal writing would be shorter and more effective if writers would give as much attention to the politics of the rhetorical situation as they do to legal research. To do that requires the following considerations: (1) understanding the three dramatic elements in the rhetorical situation (audience, purpose, tone); (2) recognizing how these elements apply to the four major categories of legal writing (investigative questioning, objective reporting, analyzing, and persuading); and (3) determining exactly who the audience for each document will be. Each audience--client, opposing attorney, judge, and courts--requires a different approach for effective communication. Communication would occur more regularly if lawyers would ask themselves some pertinent questions before they begin to write: What does this document need to do? What does the audience need from this document? and Does the document directly meet these two needs? (To exemplify what a difference the rhetorical situation makes in the organization and language chosen, two sample factual accounts, one from an office memo and the other from a trial brief, are included and analyzed.) (NKA)