Legal Drafting Overview

What is Legal Drafting?

Legal drafting is a very structured method of writing that can prove intimidating to the uninitiated. Our experience shows that rewriting legalese into plain English can take time, but this can be avoided by using clearer legal writing and drafting in the first place. We believe that knowing principles of legal drafting will enhance legal professionals to do effective legal drafting hence we provide a legal drafting course which includes the principles of legal drafting, effective legal writing and drafting tips.

Principles of Legal Drafting

• Word Choice: Favor ordinary, familiar words. Use technical words only for accuracy or if familiar to the target audience.
• Avoid Unnecessary Definitions: Only define ordinary words being used in an unusual sense. Do not define words used in their dictionary meaning.
• Sentence Length: Favor shorter sentences. Break up long lists into paragraph lists.
• Sentence Structure: Identify the subject early. Do not embed conditions and qualifiers in the middle of sentences.
• Avoid "Must" in Definitions: Use the indicative mood in definitions. Do not impose requirements.

There are various other aspects of legal drafting covered in our course including principles of effective legal writing and drafting tips.