Contrary to conventional wisdom, legal opinions are not full of portmanteaux like "thereupon" "hereinafter" "notwithstanding" etc. (You're more likely to see those in contracts.) No, the greatest linguistic tic of the legal scholar is the phrase "as to".

"As to" roughly translated means "with respect to" or "pertaining to". It's really a conjunction, and can be useful in a variety of contexts. The state of mind as to the act of robbery. The damages as to the original act of negligence.

However. Reliance on "as to" means that judges & law professors start unnecessarily converting verbs into adjectives. So instead of "Did that answer your question?" you'll sometimes hear "Was that responsive as to your question?" Further down the line, "what was your decision as to eating lunch?" "is there consensus as to ordering another keg?" And so on.

06 Oct 04