Plain English - Why Not: Difference between revisions

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I used to believe that lawyers ''deliberately'' avoid writing clearly. Legalese protects their privileged position, keeping non-specialist challengers out, and bamboozling their customers into believing they need legal advice to progress the simplest commercial opportunites.
{{a|plainenglish|}}Some say that lawyers ''deliberately'' avoid writing clearly: [[legalese]] protects their privileged position, keeping non-specialists out, and bamboozling their customers into believing they need legal advice to progress the simplest commercial opportunities. It means you need lawyers to ''start'' the legal contract, and every time you need to change it.


But I’ve changed my mind.  
But it's more complicated than that. True, some practitioners don’t use plain English because they ''can’t''.  But for most, legalese arises as an unwanted by product of advising and negotiating legal agreements.


Most practitioners don’t use plain English because they ''can’t'' — they are not competent enough to express themselves clearly.  
For every lawyer likes to [[add value]]. She ''needs'' to, to justify that hefty fee. So looking at a draft and saying, “don’t sweat it, client, it’s fine” hardly passes muster.


Lawyers ought to be the most expert of all users of the English language, and they are schooled in an English dialect from which they really can't escape. This isn't just how they talk: they speak in the same way.
{{sa}}
*[[anal paradox]]

Latest revision as of 17:36, 5 January 2021

Towards more picturesque speech


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Some say that lawyers deliberately avoid writing clearly: legalese protects their privileged position, keeping non-specialists out, and bamboozling their customers into believing they need legal advice to progress the simplest commercial opportunities. It means you need lawyers to start the legal contract, and every time you need to change it.

But it's more complicated than that. True, some practitioners don’t use plain English because they can’t. But for most, legalese arises as an unwanted by product of advising and negotiating legal agreements.

For every lawyer likes to add value. She needs to, to justify that hefty fee. So looking at a draft and saying, “don’t sweat it, client, it’s fine” hardly passes muster.

See also