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Modern Legal Drafting: A Guide to Using Clearer Language
Book Description
In the second edition of this highly regarded text, the authors show how and why traditional legal language has developed the peculiar characteristics that make legal documents inaccessible to the end users. Incorporating recent research and case law, the book provides a critical examination of case law and the rules of interpretation. Detailed case studies illustrate how obtuse or outdated words, phrases and concepts can be rewritten, reworked or removed altogether. Particularly useful is the step-by-step guide to drafting in the modern style, using examples from four types of common legal documents: leases, company constitutions, wills and conveyances. Readers will gain an appreciation of the historical influences on drafting practice and the use of legal terminology. They will learn about the current moves to reform legal language, and receive clear instruction on how to make their writing clearer and their legal documents more useful.
About the Author
Peter Butt is a Professor of Law and founding director of the Centre for Plain Legal Language at the University of Sydney. Richard Castle is a solicitor currently working in New Zealand.
Review
By Wayne Schiess (Austin, TX United States)
The book is for lawyers in Great Britain and Commonwealth nations like Australia and New Zealand. So the examples may strike U.S. lawyers as odd or old. But the principles are still valid, and the advice is still practical. The book explains how to draft in a clear, modern style. It provides before-and-after texts, examples of litigation-causing terms, and authoritative discussions of grammar, punctuation, and tone for the legal drafter. It also has two things I haven't seen in other drafting books: (1) an informative discussion of the historical causes of bad legal drafting, and (2) a history of the plain English movement in England, Commonwealth nations, and the U.S.
Book Details
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 2 edition (October 23, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0521674522
ISBN-13: 978-0521674522
Also Available in: All editions
http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Legal-Drafting-Clearer-Language/dp/0521674522/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=12
In the second edition of this highly regarded text, the authors show how and why traditional legal language has developed the peculiar characteristics that make legal documents inaccessible to the end users. Incorporating recent research and case law, the book provides a critical examination of case law and the rules of interpretation. Detailed case studies illustrate how obtuse or outdated words, phrases and concepts can be rewritten, reworked or removed altogether. Particularly useful is the step-by-step guide to drafting in the modern style, using examples from four types of common legal documents: leases, company constitutions, wills and conveyances. Readers will gain an appreciation of the historical influences on drafting practice and the use of legal terminology. They will learn about the current moves to reform legal language, and receive clear instruction on how to make their writing clearer and their legal documents more useful.
About the Author
Peter Butt is a Professor of Law and founding director of the Centre for Plain Legal Language at the University of Sydney. Richard Castle is a solicitor currently working in New Zealand.
Review
By Wayne Schiess (Austin, TX United States)
The book is for lawyers in Great Britain and Commonwealth nations like Australia and New Zealand. So the examples may strike U.S. lawyers as odd or old. But the principles are still valid, and the advice is still practical. The book explains how to draft in a clear, modern style. It provides before-and-after texts, examples of litigation-causing terms, and authoritative discussions of grammar, punctuation, and tone for the legal drafter. It also has two things I haven't seen in other drafting books: (1) an informative discussion of the historical causes of bad legal drafting, and (2) a history of the plain English movement in England, Commonwealth nations, and the U.S.
Book Details
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 2 edition (October 23, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0521674522
ISBN-13: 978-0521674522
Also Available in: All editions
http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Legal-Drafting-Clearer-Language/dp/0521674522/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=12
