Clarity in Legal Writing: Five Techniques to Avoid Ambiguity

This program covers five techniques to avoid ambiguity in legal writing. By applying these techniques, you will ensure that your readers can clearly understand your writing, even when your files are complex.

Throughout this engaging video, the instructor will display before-and-after examples of legal writing that demonstrate the five techniques for achieving clarity. The program will challenge you to identify why each example is unclear before the instructor offers suggestions for revision.

Upon learning the five techniques for achieving clarity, you will be able to visualize your own writing from the perspective of your readers. As a result, you will be able to identify potential sources of ambiguity, and, in turn, your readers will be more likely to accept your legal advice.

Key Takeaways:

After viewing this program, you will be able to:

• explain legal concepts using simple language;
• decide when to repeat a term versus when to use a synonym;
• determine when to use (and when to avoid) the word “and”;
• identify misplaced modifiers and ambiguous references; and
• draft emails and documents that are easy to read — even for non-lawyers.

Specific Example:

Consider the following sentence:

“I am teaching a course about writing clearly to associate lawyers.”

• How should that sentence be interpreted? If you look closely, there are two reasonable alternatives.
• Alternative 1: I am teaching a course about writing clearly, and my attendees are associate lawyers.
• Alternative 2: I am teaching a course about writing clearly, and my attendees are people who have to write to associate lawyers (and must do so in a clear fashion, e.g., partners providing instructions or articling students drafting research memos).