GrammarPhile Blog

A Request: Write Legal Documents in Plain English

Posted by Kelly Creighton   Jan 25, 2017 7:30:00 AM

 

Professionals outside and inside the legal field complain about long and confusing documents. Everyone is occasionally guilty of looking at a lease agreement or a business contract with a bewildered expression while uttering the phrase, "Huh?"

If you believe that the practice of writing legal documents as if they are boring court dockets from the 18th century must end, you are not alone. Even the US government agrees that we should write documents in plain English. The Plain Writing Act passed in 2010 requires federal agencies to write "clear Government communication that the public can understand and use." And it states that documents distributed to the public should be clear, concise, and well-organized.

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Topics: legal writing, proofreading for legal documents

Why Proofreading Is a Must for Legal Firms

Posted by Phil Jamieson   Sep 7, 2016 7:30:00 AM

 

Lawyers know better than most that the devil is in the details: One tiny error in a contract can upend a multimillion-dollar deal. That’s why lawyers and paralegals themselves are often natural proofreaders – they dedicate much of their time to reading reams of documents with an eagle eye.

 

Still, as proofreaders themselves will tell you, it’s invaluable to have an outsider’s perspective and a fresh set of eyes to catch errors you might overlook. That’s also why we have two proofreaders go through every document our clients submit – we have found that it greatly reduces the chances that a mistake will slip through.

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Topics: legal writing, legal proofreading, proofreading for legal documents

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