Best Legal Writing

Can legal drafting be done in plain language?

Why not? There was a time when archaic terms were considered a necessary part of legal writing. Not anymore. Perhaps the only explanation for the use of archaic language in legal writing was to make it difficult for ordinary people to understand. As a result, he needed a legally capable person to explain or rather interpret what was written. This generally attracted a small fee. So there is a case here. On the other hand, plain language makes it easy for legal documents to be understood by anyone and everyone, including judges and lawyers. If it is easily understood, wouldn’t that result in effective communication? There is another box here. Members of the legal fraternity must be sure that the use of sophisticated or complex language does not indicate intelligence, being very learned or wise.

Relevant points in the use of plain English in legal writing

• What would be a simple method to determine if plain language was used in a given legal brief? One test would be that the document is easily read and understood by the driver of a judge or senior partner of a law firm. Therein lies the challenge. To take something complex, process it and re-produce it in a simple and easy way. Take the law, the legal principles, the facts of the case, the legal terms and communicate them in a simple and effective language. Now, that would require intelligence and hard work.
• What is the process required to produce a document that can be easily read and understood? The draft should be subjected to viewing and revision until you are satisfied that it is actually readable. Remove, replace, repeat until you can’t go on without sacrificing meaning.
• When a highly educated or skilled person uses simple language, people are often impressed. They know that the person is capable of using complex language and appreciate the fact that the person has chosen to speak or write in simple language. There are many people who are of the opinion that complex language is often used to hide or mask something.
• The foregoing does not mean that there is no place for legal terms and language. There is, but the point is that it has to be carried beyond a certain point. This is the point where the communication involves people who are not familiar with the “language” used. Certainly there would be situations that would justify the use of such language.
• It has been observed that even the judges lament that the briefs are unnecessarily long. After all, they are human too. Who would rather work through a 50 page abstract when it could have been written in 25 or 30 pages? However, the difficulty with writing shorter summaries is that it requires more time and work. To appreciate this, try and distill a five-page document into a single page without sacrificing substance.

Proofreading and editing legal wording

Whether it is an affidavit, a contract, a writ, or any other legal document, it should be carefully edited and reviewed. It is almost unimaginable that a legal document with misspelled words or incorrect grammar. However, it could happen when the editing or proofreading is inappropriate or careless. In addition to the author reviewing and re-reviewing the document, it must also be reviewed by someone else. Given the confidentiality of such documents, this may pose a problem. Additionally, time is a major constraint in preparing legal documents due to their urgency. The use of software to edit and proofread legal wording would be a suitable option.