A LEGAL-WRITING TIP: "CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT" . . . A reader asks if the phrase "class action lawsuit" should be hyphenated. Should it be class action lawsuit or class-action lawsuit?

According to Bryan Garner in A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage, the best advice is to drop the word "lawsuit" entirely. Says Garner, "The phrase class-action suit is wordy for class action."

For those insisting on wordiness, however, the hyphen is recommended. It's something I wrote about at the Illinois Trial Practice Weblog in a post titled, "An Easy Tip to Make Your Writing Look More Professional." It's a tip about phrasal adjectives you shouldn't miss. Once again, it draws on Bryan Garner.