Legal Writing in Plain English, Second Edition: A Text with Exercises (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing) by Bryan A. Garner

Author:Bryan A. Garner [Garner, Bryan A.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 2013-08-25T16:00:00+00:00

Who’s the real audience there? Perhaps the fee-dispute committee of the local bar, or perhaps the grievance committee. And for most clients, it’s a major turnoff. A leaner version informs the client more effectively because the point is clearer:

Our estimates are just that: estimates. Conditions outside our control, especially the other side’s pretrial motions and discovery requests, may raise or lower expenses.

Interestingly, lawyer groups—dozens of them—that have compared those two passages have said that if they were sitting on a grievance committee, they would be much less favorably disposed to the lawyer who wrote the first version.

Write for your immediate readers—the ones to whom you’re directing your communications. Don’t write for some remote decision maker who probably won’t ever see, let alone interpret, the document. If you write well for the front-end users, you’re less likely to have trouble down the line.

Exercises

Basic

Revise the following sentences so that they aren’t so obviously directed to the judicial interpreter:

• Nothing expressed or implied in this Agreement is intended or shall be construed to give to any person or entity, other than the parties and the Buyer’s permitted assignees, any rights or remedies under or by reason of this Agreement.

• The Corporation and the Executive explicitly agree that this Agreement has been negotiated by each at arm’s length and that legal counsel for both parties have had a full and fair opportunity to review the Agreement so that any court will fully enforce it as written.

• The employee explicitly acknowledges and agrees that the agreement not to compete, set forth above, is ancillary to an otherwise enforceable agreement and is supported by independent, valuable consideration as required by Texas Business and Commerce Code § 15.50. The employee further agrees that the limitations as to time, geographical area, and scope of activity to be restrained are reasonable and do not impose any greater restraint than is reasonably necessary to protect the goodwill and other business interests of the employer.

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