There are over 20 million copies of his novels in print in 51 countries and 40 languages. In addition to being a successful author who travels worldwide in support of his novels, Berry also teaches continuing legal education courses relating to writing.

Just after his most recent novel, “The 14th Colony,” was published in early April, he presented a class entitled “Add a Little Fiction to your Writing,” to lawyers in Cleveland and Columbus. The novel zeroes in on the 20th Amendment, which deals with the beginning and ending dates for presidential terms as well as the 1947 Presidential Succession Act.

That Act establishes a line of succession to the powers and duties of the office of the President of the United States in case both the President and Vice President are unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office of the President.

Berry is a history and Constitutional Law buff who weaves both themes into his novels in some way. “Some people think lawyers only write legalese," says Ken Brown, public-affairs and communication strategies director of the Ohio State Bar Association, which hosted both of Berry’s Ohio appearances. "But the purpose of what we write is to persuade.”

To Berry, the title of the talk reinforces the importance of looser legal writing. “Lawyers write very tight,” he says. “Our writing tends to be passive and long-winded. We tend to forget that we have a reader who is trying to pay attention and grasp what we’re saying. To that end, you have to do a little bit of entertaining. I take some of the tricks from fiction and bring them over to legal writing.”

Although he has been teaching fiction-writing workshops for many years, the sessions focusing on legal writing are relatively new. Last year, he conducted a program for the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association. One major mistake writers of all types make, at least initially, is that they write in the passive voice.

“That’s bad. You need to use the active voice, so get that out of your system,” he advises. It’s important to write in active voice to remove ambiguity from the content. Writing in active voice also increases the likelihood the reader can clearly decipher what they have read, Berry says.

“You want the decider and the reader to get into your brain,” he suggests. “The writer’s job is to entertain but the lawyer’s job is to persuade.” When lawyers write legal briefs or memorandum, their missives should accomplish three goals. They are:

• Develop facts
• Advance arguments
• Maintain the flow Another suggestion for both lawyers and authors, in general, is that they write short sentences.

“Shorter is not better, it’s mandatory,” says Berry, adding, “White on the page is important. If I see a lot of white, it tells me the writer is being cautious about what they are doing.”

To those attorneys who believe they have a book in them, Berry says it’s imperative to simply sit down and write. “You have to learn some discipline, how to compartmentalize and keep the law separate from the writing.”

Berry is no stranger to wearing a multitude of hats, meaning time management is an imperative skill. For 20 years, he says, “I was a lawyer, husband, father and a county commissioner. Saying ‘I’m too busy to write’ is just an excuse. If you have that little voice in your head that’s telling you to write ---and all writers do --- then you have to listen to it.”

“I’m living proof that it can be done,” Berry says.

Tami Kamin Meyer is an Ohio attorney and writer.