Does this sound like you? When we set up our consultancy practice, like many professionals we cobbled (cut + paste) together an appointment from documents we’d been provided by our professional body and or obtained from other consultants. We took an ‘that seems to look right’ or ‘it covers most
When a court or tribunal interprets your carefully crafted contract, it doesn’t ask your opinion. It reviews the written terms to analyse ‘what a reasonable person having all the [parties’ then] background knowledge… would have understood… the language in the contract to mean‘. As they are not mystics, the courts
My 10 tips to improve your legal writing recommend you spend time ruthlessly crossing through, deleting or rewording your text. Whenever you can shorten a sentence, do. And one always can. The best sentence? The shortest. Gustave Flaubert You need to edit your text to create a document which suits
Contracts win prizes, although not in this case… It is common ground that the Deed of Variation in this case would win no drafting prizes for precision or clarity. It included errors … which are acknowledged by both sides, and it also struggled to convey the essential agreement reached between
Copies of my book How to Write Simple and Effective Consultant Appointments in Just 500 Words have been prompting contacts, clients and friends to actually sit down and review their existing contracts. Bill Evans from D2E said “I must say, it was easy and compelling reading. The contents provides so
What is a watertight contract? In my view it is like the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow – we’d all like it to exist, but it doesn’t. Recent examples like Pimlico plumbers, Uber and Oakhurst diary have shown how so-called watertight contracts have been leaking at
Clarity and legibility in contractual language is widely recognised as desirable in its own right but [the Consumer Rights Act] goes beyond promoting that objective as an end in itself … the transparency provisions in the Act have to be understood as demanding ‘transparency’ in the full sense. If your
Every professional writer knows that [a] period of just-sitting-and-thinking between legwork and outline is the most important part of the whole writing process Rudolph Flesch, Art of Readable Writing As busy professionals we rarely have time to stop and think. But using your subconscious to create order from the wealth
It is time to banish stilted language from your (legal) writing. It serves no-one, especially not your client. If you need more persuading, read these words of wisdom from commentators, experts and judges: In legal writing, jargon consists mostly of stilted words and phrases — blemishes, not graces — such
Getting a contract wet signed (pen & ink) is becoming increasingly difficult when many clients are virtual, businesses do not have offices, and the cost of postage outweighs the benefits. In the construction industry, parties often start with the intention of getting a signed contract, but these good intentions are