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12 December 2006
Law Society Publishing
9781853289859
Paperback
234 x 156 mm
224 pages
Clarity for Lawyers
Effective Legal Writing, 2nd edition
Overview
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.
Clarity for Lawyers has been substantially reorganised and rewritten to take advantage of the author's extra 16 years' experience since the first edition was published. In particular, there are new sections on ambiguity, vagueness, miscuing, communication via emails and websites, persuasive writing, the rules of interpretation, and editing. There is also a helpful range of plain precedents, including a simple will, memorandum of association, and divorce petition.
Reviews
"This welcome second edition is a treasure-house... to be read, marked, learned, inwardly digested - and acted upon."
From the foreword by the Rt Hon Lord Bingham
"Clarity for Lawyers is a practical book, written for lawyers by a lawyer. As you would expect, it's well written and easy to understand. As you might not expect, it's also entertaining. (More than once I was caught laughing out loud while reading it.) I think it will appeal to practising lawyers of all backgrounds and experience levels."
Marco Stella; Special Counsel (Know How), Mallesons Stephen Jacques
'All lawyers need this book.... I suggest you read Adler on Clarity starting at the beginning when Mr Adler writes that 'this book is intended to give lawyers a better life'. It does just that!'
Phillip Taylor OBE; barrister; book review editor, The Barrister
'For anyone who's still afraid to write legal documents in plain English, this book is an excellent place to start. As stated in volume 2 of the Scribes Journal, in a review of the first edition, 'Adler has...created a clever, inventive, and practical guide to legal writing.''
Scribes Journal of Legal Writing
Contents
A: What's wrong with legal writing?;
B: Alternative ways to communicate;
C: How to make legal writing more effective;
D: The common law rules of interpretation;
E: A plain language workshop.
About the Author
Mark Adler was a solicitor in general practice for some 30 years but specialised in plain language. Since his retirement in 2007 he has continued to teach plain legal writing in the UK and overseas and to act as a plain drafting consultant to lawyers and others. For many years he chaired Clarity, the lawyers' international movement for plain legal language, and he edited its journal from 1987 to 2000.
Although no longer a solicitor, in retirement he is an active member of Clarity's committee and of the Commonwealth Association of Legislative Counsel; he has joined the board of the Canadian-based Plain Language Association InterNational (PLAIN), and is one of the 12 members world-wide of the International Plain Language Working Group, set up to develop professional standards for plain language consultants.