Wayne Schiess's legal-writing blog. Home is here: Legalwriting.net
Some have a love affair with shall.
For example, they change this statement "A Service Award is credited to the account of a participating member" to "A Service Award shall be credited . . ."
Here's another example: "Eligible members earn Service Award points" becomes "Eligible members shall earn . . ."
Is this good drafting?
posted by Wayne Schiess at 10:41 AM
[Plain language] has a bad name among some lawyers. This is usually because they don't understand enough about it to judge it properly. --Michele M. Asprey, Plain Language for Lawyers 11 (2d ed., Federation Press 1996).
A related bonus of a plain language style is the potential for reducing mistakes. Traditional legal language tends to hide inconsistencies and ambiguities. Errors are harder to find in dense and convoluted prose. Removing legalese helps lay bare any oversights in the original. --Peter Butt & Richard Castle, Modern Legal Drafting: A Guide to Using Clearer Language 89 (Cambridge U. Press 2001).
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