Workshop Outline
Introduction
· Who are today's legal writing experts ?
·
Why are they pushing for plain
language in legal writing?
Words
and Phrases
· Choosing your words carefully
· Avoiding legalese and simplifying jargon
· Explaining unavoidable technical terms
· Omitting needless words
· Avoiding multiword prepositions and other wordy expressions
· Condensing and strengthening your verbs
· Replacing doublets and triplets
·
Minimizing acronyms and initialisms
Sentences
· Keeping most of your sentences short
· —analyzing long sentences
· —techniques for shortening sentences
· —dealing with conditions, exceptions, and provisos
· Avoiding gaps between the subject, verb, and object
· Using the active voice
· Using parallel structure for parallel ideas
· Locating lists and enumerations
· Avoiding multiple negatives
· Avoiding ambiguity
· Connecting sentences skillfully
·
Ending sentences emphatically
Document Structure
· Doing a proper opener, middle, and ending
· When and where to summarize
· Making your paragraph the unit of composition
· Topic sentences
· Transitional words and phrases
· Keeping paragraphs and sections short
·
When and how to do a table of
contents
Legal
Drafting
· Additional Principles for Legal Drafting
· Organizing your document
· Using headings, easily-followed numbering, and short sections
· Using consistent terminology
· Replacing the ambiguous shall
· Controlling definitions and cross references
·
Punctuating for clarity
The
Writing Process
· The four steps—brainstorming, outlining, drafting, editing
·
Editing yourself systematically
Document Design
· Type size, typeface, and characters per line
· White space (margins, sections, headings, and other special items)
· Highlighting techniques (boldface, italics, bullets)
·
Diagrams, tables, and charts
Closing
· Summary exercise
· A plain language checklist