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Clarity for Lawyers: Effective Legal Writing, 3rd Edition

Clarity for Lawyers: Effective Legal Writing, 3rd Edition

Author: Mark Adler
Publisher: Law Society Publishing
ISBN: 9781784460488

Previous Edition ISBN: 9781853289859
Published In: October 2017
Format: Paperback , 224 pages
Jurisdiction: International ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only

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Increase your efficiency, profits and client approval through the use of clear, modern English. This unique book debunks the myth that legalese is precise.

Using many before-and-after examples, this book explains how you can increase your efficiency, profits and client approval while making your documents more readable and reliable.

This third edition covers online communications and includes updated chapters on the common law rules of interpretation and:-

what is good writing?
an outline of how software can improve the clarity of your writing
how misunderstandings arise.

With a forward by Lord Neuberger, this practical book also contains a number of useful precedents written in plain English to help you work better with clients and avoid potentially costly misunderstandings.

A: What's wrong with legal writing?;
B: Alternative ways to communicate;
C: How to make legal writing more effective;
D: The common law rules of interpretation;
E: A plain language workshop.

Mark Adler was a solicitor in general practice for some 30 years but specialised in plain language. Since his retirement in 2007 he has continued to teach plain legal writing in the UK and overseas and to act as a plain drafting consultant to lawyers and others. For many years he chaired Clarity, the lawyers' international movement for plain legal language, and he edited its journal from 1987 to 2000.

Although no longer a solicitor, in retirement he is an active member of Clarity's committee and of the Commonwealth Association of Legislative Counsel; he has joined the board of the Canadian-based Plain Language Association InterNational (PLAIN), and is one of the 12 members world-wide of the International Plain Language Working Group, set up to develop professional standards for plain language consultants.

"This welcome second edition is a treasure-house... to be read, marked, learned, inwardly digested - and acted upon."

From the foreword by the Rt Hon Lord Bingham

"Clarity for Lawyers is a practical book, written for lawyers by a lawyer. As you would expect, it's well written and easy to understand. As you might not expect, it's also entertaining. (More than once I was caught laughing out loud while reading it.) I think it will appeal to practising lawyers of all backgrounds and experience levels."

Marco Stella; Special Counsel (Know How), Mallesons Stephen Jacques

'All lawyers need this book.... I suggest you read Adler on Clarity starting at the beginning when Mr Adler writes that 'this book is intended to give lawyers a better life'. It does just that!'

Phillip Taylor OBE; barrister; book review editor, The Barrister

'For anyone who's still afraid to write legal documents in plain English, this book is an excellent place to start. As stated in volume 2 of the Scribes Journal, in a review of the first edition, 'Adler has...created a clever, inventive, and practical guide to legal writing.''

Scribes Journal of Legal Writing