Thinking of joining the legal side of the world? Want to become a lawyer? If you are considering one of these options then it might be time for you to brush up on your writing skills. This is because using your words to draft legal documents takes time to master and is not something you can do overnight. The proper usage of words in the legal space might even be the most important tool available to any lawyer.
This article is going to be a guide that you can follow in order to improve your law writing skills so that you can make your path to success!
Know Who Your Audience is
When creating any sort of legal document or writing any law paper, it is extremely important to know who your audience is. If you are getting your thesis or dissertation ready then you should know what is expected of you and how to present the paper to your professor. If you are submitting a document to the court it must be convincing and persuasive. What about if you are presenting the client with a memo? The memo must address the issues, advise the client on what course of action take and also tell them what laws are going to be applicable to the issue. This is why you should always keep the reader in mind when tailoring any law document.
Keep it neat and Tidy
Writing any paper, especially one based in the field of law is going to take a lot of explanation and analysis. This is why it is important you create a visual aid for the reader so they do not end up reading unending blocks of text and lose interest. The usage of proper words to ease the transition, such as, ‘however’ or ‘henceforth’ can be of great help when writing your paper. Also, you can create headings and titles for each paragraph that addresses one issue. A heading can also be further divided into subheadings in order to help in understanding what is being talked about in the paragraph as well. It is extremely important that the reader follows along with the message of your paper otherwise there will have been no point in writing the paper.
Be Concise
In line the message of the last point, conciseness is key when it comes to writing any legal document. The use of words that are added in order to make the document look flashy or give the impression that you are someone who knows what they are talking about oftentimes ends up giving the opposite impression. Keep your sentences short and keep them precise. This lessens the chance of the reader getting confused and missing the point that you are trying to convey. Remember, if the reader does not know what you are talking about in your paper, then there is no point in your paper at all.
Be gone Legalese!
Legalese – the language and jargon that lawyers use – is often hard to understand and can be complicated to explain as well. More so, sometimes it confuses the reader of the document as well, especially in cases where a reader is a person who does not know legal jargon. For them, it can be hard to understand and then sentences can get confused as well. If you are the legal counsel to anyone it is your job to make sure that your client understands wholly and completely the document they are presented with. If they do not, then you have failed your job as their counsel.
Create Impact!
Do not you a passive voice or beat around the bush in your document. It is more impactful if you keep your sentences short and to the point. This creates an impact in your sentence and delivers a much more complete message. A good way to create impact is to use action words, for example, we can say, “the person was not telling the truth in their testimony” while there is nothing inherently wrong in this sentence. It would be much more simple and impactful if you said, “The person lied in their testimony.” The second sentence directly tells you the message of the sentence while being concise and impactful.
We do hope that this guide gave you somewhat of a better understanding of what to write in your legal documents. It is extremely important that the message of your paper never gets lost due to technical sentences which are too complicated and unnecessary. However, if you are having trouble writing any law paper we suggest you contact Law Writing! We are a brilliant team of experienced and professional writers who have many years of experience and can deliver an extremely well-written paper as per your request.