Theoretical overview
The proper delivery of a message from one person to another is the key component of effective oral communication. In order to align the reader’s comprehension with the lawyers’, successful legal drafting requires the use of words that communicate a certain concept. Most of the time, effective legal drafting goes beyond common comprehension and makes sure that the reader’s understanding cannot differ from what the lawyer intended. To that point, it may be expected of her/him to word phrases and regulations in a way that not only conveys the most straightforward meaning but also completely rules out any alternate interpretations that might be viable. Due to its conventional structure, legal drafting has a lot of issues. Legal English has historically been an extremely reliant kind of English that incorporates a blend of Latin and French. This reliance has only existed for the sake of tradition and accuracy, even as they continue to deliberately corrupt and desecrate the English language.
\Litigation resulting from improperly formed contracts is one of the major hazards to poor modern legal drafting. Customers clients frequently find themselves caught between several contractual clause interpretations and must employ legal means to gain a better understanding. Due to the significant financial losses and lengthy court appearances, this not only hurts the client but also the attorney’s image. Additionally, use of verbosity, double negatives, convoluted sentences, poor punctuation, assigning purely legal definitions to common words, passages replete with passive verbs, poor graphic and typeface layouts are some common issues.
In contemporary times, when legal education is gaining importance as a productive and progressive field of education, the language to be used as a medium of instruction poses a great challenge in its accessibility to every student.
- Language issues with drafting
- Stylistic and syntactic errors
The wrong ways in which ideas are expressed in writing are referred to as stylistic mistakes. The message is somehow correctly conveyed, but it doesn’t entirely fit the legal wording. A stylistic error can be defined as the misuse of a specific word, the sudden blending of styles, the use of excessive or inappropriate metaphors, linguistic lavishness, or ambiguity. Contrarily, syntactic errors refer to the rearranging of words and phrases that results in the loss of the genuine meaning of the complete sentence and the creation of ambiguity. This is a result of the structural terms that describe correlation between words and sentences being misinterpreted Hence, writers should make sure that the words are organised such that they form a crucial element of the text.
- Grammar errors
Language and the law are two things that are deeply intertwined. It is impossible to study legal writing without understanding how language affects it. Even the most ardent lawyers make mistakes in their documents due to the complex grammar rules and large number of clauses in the English language.
- Excessive use of passive voice
The active voice is more concise and direct. The overuse of the passive voice in legal writing suggests an unnatural style of speech. This does not, however, imply that lawyers should never use the passive voice. It should be used where persuasive style of writing is required or to de-emphasize upon the subject’s identity.
- Punctuation
Punctuation was traditionally not given much weight in legal writings, although standards have changed throughout time. A legal document is deemed poorly prepared if it contains no or inaccurate punctuation. As both words and punctuation mark express the legislative intent, they are treated equally. Legal writing follows the same fundamental punctuation rules as other types of writing.
- The usage of unusual sentence structure, they are lengthy and complex;
- Use of technical and hard words;
- Use of doublets and triplets like null and void;
Legal drafting is a multi-step procedure that requires exactitude at every stage. Each has a different drafting style and method. The requirement for a clear, accurate, and precise document still applies, though. The primary objective of the lawyer should be to create a document that the readers can understand.
Points to remember
- The proper delivery of a message from one person to another is the key component of effective oral communication.
- makes sure that the reader’s understanding cannot differ from what the lawyer intended.
- Due to its conventional structure, legal drafting has a lot of issues.
- Legal English has historically been an extremely reliant kind of English that incorporates a blend of Latin and French.
- Language issues with drafting are Stylistic and syntactic errors, Grammer Error, Excess use of passive voice, punctuations
