Subjects:

Drafting and Legal Writing

Contents:

What is this book about?

What is plain language?

Why plain language?

Plain language around the world

Fundamentals

Structure

Words

Grammatical structures to avoid

Legal affectations and other nasty habits

Overused words and formulas

Little words: big problems

What about the rules of legal interpretation?

A plain language vocabulary

E-mail and the internet

Document design basics

Designing documents for the computer screen

Testing your writing

Any questions?.

Plain language communication has become widely accepted in the past decade as an essential skill of the successful modern lawyer. Most lawyers try; the question remains how many of them really succeed.

Governments and courts have been forcing the issue. New laws continue to be passed requiring documents to be written in language that is ""easy to understand"", ""intelligible"", ""comprehensible"" or ""expressed plainly"", or requiring ""plain language"" or ""plain English"". At the same time, modern case law is highlighting the risks for banks and others who continue to use documents that cannot easily be understood. The use of e-mail and the Internet have revolutionalised the way lawyers communicate, and has had very significant implications for the language they use.

This updated and revised third edition now covers the significant developments in plain language and the law since 1996. Includes two new chapters: one on writing for the internet and writing email and the other on designing documents intended to be read on the computer screen.