Clarity for Lawyers

The traditional style of legal drafting has been discredited, and clear, modern English is increasingly required by law and by clients. This work explains how lawyers can increase their efficiency, profits, and client approval while making their documents more reliable. It also includes sections on ambiguity, vagueness, miscuing, and editing.

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The traditional style of legal drafting has been widely discredited over the last 40 years, and clear, modern English is now increasingly required by law and by clients. But few lawyers are able to produce it. Mark Adler debunks the myth that legalese is precise and explains, with many before-and-after examples, how lawyers can increase their efficiency, profits, and client approval while making their documents more reliable. This second edition has been thoroughly revised, updated and expanded to include new sections on ambiguity, vagueness, miscuing, and editing, as well as advice about communication via emails and websites, persuasive writing, and the rules of interpretation. The book also contains a helpful range of precedents written in plain English, including a simple will, memorandum of association and divorce petition.