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*Organise with a view to intuitive reading, for those with a short attention span, | *Organise with a view to intuitive reading, for those with a short attention span, | ||
*Key points at the front, less important/operational parts at the back. | *Key points at the front, less important/operational parts at the back. | ||
''' | '''Duplication/Redundancy''': reorganising the content, in turn, often reveals a good deal of duplication and redundancy, which then can be removed.<br> | ||
'''Separate out [[boilerplate]]''': Separating key terms from [[boilerplate]]: Separating boilerplate from key economic terms literally — putting them in separate documents so you can lock down the boilerplate and leave the key terms editable – makes a big difference. There are a number of advantages tp putting key economic terms, amendment to boilerplate terms, and any variables and elections in a separate document: | '''Separate out [[boilerplate]]''': Separating key terms from [[boilerplate]]: Separating boilerplate from key economic terms literally — putting them in separate documents so you can lock down the boilerplate and leave the key terms editable – makes a big difference. There are a number of advantages tp putting key economic terms, amendment to boilerplate terms, and any variables and elections in a separate document: | ||
*The key terms are now set out in a summary termsheet document that clients and operations teams can read without legal assistance | *The key terms are now set out in a summary termsheet document that clients and operations teams can read without legal assistance | ||
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*Recoil in horror from triple negatives. | *Recoil in horror from triple negatives. | ||
===Sexist language=== | ===[[Sexist language]]=== | ||
You are writing for men and women. If you write “he” all the time you risk irritating half your audience. Writing “she” risks irritating the other half. Writing “s/he”, “he or she” or “it” risks irritating all of them. There are things you can do: | You are writing for men and women. If you write “he” all the time you risk irritating half your audience. Writing “she” all the time risks irritating the other half. Writing “s/he”, “he or she” or “it” risks irritating all of them. There are things you can do: | ||
*Write in the plural: Instead of “I am yet to meet a client who tells his lawyer to avoid write incomprehensibly” say “Clients don’t tell their lawyers to write incomprehensibly”. | *Write in the plural: Instead of “I am yet to meet a client who tells his lawyer to avoid write incomprehensibly” say “Clients don’t tell their lawyers to write incomprehensibly”. | ||
*Write in the first and second person: I’ve never had a client ask me to write incomprehensibly”. | *Write in the first and second person: I’ve never had a client ask me to write incomprehensibly”. | ||
*Do both: write in the first person plural: this is the beauty of “we” and “you” — both are beautifully gender neutral | |||
*If you can’t do any of the above, ''alternate''. I try to do this on this wiki, but being a fellow, but when in doubt, which is most of the time, I err in favour of “she” because I find that makes me think a bit harder about what I’m writing. The challenge with doing that, of course, when writing satire, is that it looks like some kind of political statement. For whatever it is worth, it isn’t. | |||
===[[Definitions]]=== | |||
===Definitions=== | |||
===Enumerations=== | ===Enumerations=== | ||
*'''Break into subparagraphs''': | *'''Break into subparagraphs''': | ||
*'''Branch right, not left''': | *'''Branch right, not left''': | ||
===Kill these first=== | ===Kill these first=== | ||
*[[Deemery]]: [[Deemed]], [[deem]], shall be deemed to be | |||
*[[unless otherwise]], [[or otherwise]], other than...: Can always be addressed with a general statement in construction. | |||
*[[Notwithstanding the foregoing]] | *[[Notwithstanding the foregoing]] | ||
*[[For the avoidance of doubt]] | *[[For the avoidance of doubt]] | ||
*Including, [[without limitation]] | *Including, [[without limitation]], including but not limited to: redundancy | ||
*if applicable | |||
*[[one or more]] | *[[one or more]] | ||
*The Counterparty may, but shall not be [[obligated]] to | *The Counterparty may, but shall not be [[obligated]] to | ||
* directly or indirectly | |||
===Don’t use fusty expressions=== | ===Don’t use fusty expressions=== | ||
*[[Shall]] | *[[Shall]] is a bad, ambiguous word, and it makes you sound like a jerk. Use [[must]], for an imperative, or [[will]], for a declarative. [[Shall have]] and [[shall be]] indicate passives. | ||
*[[And/or]] is ''always'' just “[[or]]”. | *[[And/or]] is ''always'' just “[[or]]”. | ||
*[[Constitute]]: is | |||
*[[Shall be entitled to]]/shall not: ''may'' or ''may not''. | |||
*For the purpose of | |||
*shall have no liability -> is not liable | |||
*[[In respect of]] | |||
*[[With respect to]] | |||
*[[In connection with]] | |||
*[[In relation thereto]] | |||
*[[In accordance with]] | |||
*Under any/no circumstances | |||
*such ~, any such ~ | |||
*as the case may be | |||
*May or may not | |||
*[[In the event that]] | |||
*[[to the extent that]] | |||
*[[The occurrence of]] | |||
*[[not less than]] | |||
*[[in respect thereof]] | |||
*pursuant to — under | |||
*thereunder | |||
*an amount equal to | |||
*one or more | |||
*for the time being | |||
*thereof, therefrom, therefor, therewith | |||
=== Convoluted constructions: De-[[Fish principle|Fishifying]] === | |||
Keep your logical constructions as plain as they can be. Lawyers are encouraged from birth not to, so this will be really hard to unlearn. For example: | |||
* “'''Term''' means, ''in respect of any Series,'' has the definition given to such term in the Instrument ''for that Series.''” The giveaway here is that you’ve had to use “Series” twice. Rework to: “Term will be defined in each Series Instrument.” | |||
* Loss: claims, liabilities, costs, expenses, damages, losses, demands, | |||
=== Contruction section === | |||
'''Successors, amendments, replacements''': THIS IS WHAT A CONSTRUCTION SECTION IS FOR. It is a place to send all your pedants, where they can joust with each other to their hearts' content, rather than doing it all over your special legal terms. | |||
'''Applicable law''': everything is subject to applicable law and decisions of courts. | |||
===Numbering=== | ===Numbering=== | ||
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*Avoid wimpy writing: Avoid "almost", "seems to". | *Avoid wimpy writing: Avoid "almost", "seems to". | ||
*use | *use | ||
===Hemingway and the Kansas City Star=== | |||
[[File: Kansas Star style guide.pdf|500px|center|frameless]] | |||