Plain language in law
Services: contracts
As lawyers, we are more comfortable writing a contract in legalese than in words our clients can actually understand. But who is paying you for your services?
I am here to help you create contracts in plain language, which allows you to communicate more clearly, improve your client relationships, and enhance your business performance.
The challenge: contracts are difficult to understand
As lawyers, we do not always realize just how often our clients find contracts difficult to read and impossible to understand. Our clients find that these contracts
contain jargon
contain archaic word choices
consist of long sentences
contain redundant information
refer to laws that are not explained in the text
Strategic solution: plain language benefits lawyers and clients
Lawyers who have embraced plain language as a business strategy have noticed multiple benefits to their business
increased work efficiency
improved client relations
improved client satisfaction
money saved
You probably realize your contracts could do with clarification. Only you find you don’t have the time to spend on the project to produce clearer versions of your contracts.
"Transparency is an essential ingredient for maintaining the public's faith in the legal system."
Richard Wagner,
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada
An ideally positioned solution provider
With my background as a lawyer I understand why your clarification project keeps ending up on the bottom of your priorities list.
Just as you help protect your clients from a legal standpoint, I can help you create clearer contracts from a communications perspective. This means you can continue to focus on your daily business while I work on clarifying your contracts.
"If we cannot understand our rights, we have no rights."
Beverley McLachlin,
Former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada
Expertise in both language and law
I have over a decade of experience in writing, copyediting and proofreading in both English and Dutch as a former employment law attorney (Dutch LL.M.). In that capacity I have drafted 1,000+ verdicts, contracts and other legal documents. The law firm where I was employed had plain language as their policy.
For the purpose of applying plain language to contracts it is actually beneficial that I haven’t studied American or Canadian law. It helps me to determine the difficulties your clients experience when dealing with a contract. It also gives me the opportunity to offer a rewrite without the burden of professional jargon and tradition that you acquired since you were attending law school.
Contact me to find out how I can help you to create your plain language contracts.
