BRITISH LEGAL CENTRE

General Legal English Course

Lesson 1
Richard Brady,
Director,
British Legal Centre

https://www.british-legal-centre.com
PART 1

Legal Writing
 WHAT IS PLAIN ENGLISH

5 Principles to keep your writing easy to understand

1. Keep sentences short – 20 words or less

2. Don’t use old-fashioned legal jargon
3. Use the Active voice rather than the Passive voice
4. Use Bullet Points to break the information into small
segments
5. Write with verbs not nouns (Nominalisation)
 PLAIN LEGAL ENGLISH TECHNIQUES
1 – SHORTENING SENTENCES

Here is an extreme example to show that we can keep the

essential message and meaning without using legalese and
keeping the sentences short.
 PLAIN LEGAL ENGLISH TECHNIQUES
1 – SHORTENING SENTENCES
I hereby give my agent the power to exercise or perform any act,
power, duty or right or obligation whatsoever that I have or may
hereafter acquire relating to any person, matter, transaction or
property, real or personal, tangible or intangible, now owned or
hereafter acquired by me, including, without limitation the
following specifically enumerated powers: to borrow money, to
buy land. I grant to my Agent full power and authority to do
anything necessary in exercising any of the powers granted herein
as fully as I might or could do if personally present, with full
power of substitution or revocation, hereby ratifying and
confirming all that my Agent will lawfully do or cause to be done
by virtue of this power of attorney and the powers granted
herein.
 PLAIN LEGAL ENGLISH TECHNIQUES
1 – SHORTENING SENTENCES
I hereby give my agent the power to exercise or perform any act,
power, duty or right or obligation whatsoever that I have or may
hereafter acquire relating to any person, matter, transaction or
property, real or personal, tangible or intangible, now owned or
hereafter acquired by me, including, without limitation the
following specifically enumerated powers: to borrow money, to
buy land. I grant to my Agent full power and authority to do
anything necessary in exercising any of the powers granted herein
as fully as I might or could do if personally present, with full
power of substitution or revocation, hereby ratifying and
confirming all that my Agent will lawfully do or cause to be done
by virtue of this power of attorney and the powers granted
herein.
 PLAIN LEGAL ENGLISH TECHNIQUES
1 – SHORTENING SENTENCES

I give my agent the power to exercise or perform any act, power,

duty or right or obligation that I have or may acquire relating to
any person, matter, transaction or property, real or personal,
tangible or intangible, now owned or acquired by me, including,
without limitation the following specifically enumerated powers:
to borrow money, to buy land. I grant to my Agent full power and
authority to do anything necessary in exercising any of the powers
as fully as I might or could do if personally present, with full power
of substitution or revocation, ratifying and confirming all that my
Agent will lawfully do or cause to be done in accordance with this
power of attorney.
 PLAIN LEGAL ENGLISH TECHNIQUES
1 – SHORTENING SENTENCES

I give my agent the power to exercise or perform any act, power,

duty or right or obligation that I have or may acquire relating to
any person, matter, transaction or property, real or personal,
tangible or intangible, now owned or acquired by me, including,
without limitation the following specifically enumerated powers:
to borrow money, to buy land. I grant to my Agent full power and
authority to do anything necessary in exercising any of the powers
as fully as I might or could do if personally present, with full power
of substitution or revocation, ratifying and confirming all that my
Agent will lawfully do or cause to be done in accordance with this
power of attorney.
 PLAIN LEGAL ENGLISH TECHNIQUES
1 – SHORTENING SENTENCES

I give my agent the power to do anything that I have a right to do

including, without limitation the following specifically enumerated
powers: to borrow money, to buy land. I grant to my Agent full
power and authority to do anything necessary in exercising any of
the powers as fully as I might or could do if personally present,
with full power of substitution or revocation, ratifying and
confirming all that my Agent will lawfully do or cause to be done in
accordance with this power of attorney.
 PLAIN LEGAL ENGLISH TECHNIQUES
1 – SHORTENING SENTENCES

I give my agent the power to do anything that I have a right to do

including, without limitation the following specifically enumerated
powers: to borrow money, to buy land. I grant to my Agent full
power and authority to do anything necessary in exercising any of
the powers as fully as I might or could do if personally present,
with full power of substitution or revocation, ratifying and
confirming all that my Agent will lawfully do or cause to be done in
accordance with this power of attorney.
 PLAIN LEGAL ENGLISH TECHNIQUES
1 – SHORTENING SENTENCES

I give my agent the power to do anything that I have a right to do.

I grant to my Agent full power and authority to do anything
necessary in exercising any of the powers as fully as I might or
could do if personally present, with full power of substitution or
revocation, ratifying and confirming all that my Agent will lawfully
do or cause to be done in accordance with this power of attorney.
 PLAIN LEGAL ENGLISH TECHNIQUES
1 – SHORTENING SENTENCES

I give my agent the power to do anything that I have a right to do.

I grant to my Agent full power and authority to do anything
necessary in exercising any of the powers as fully as I might or
could do if personally present, with full power of substitution or
revocation, ratifying and confirming all that my Agent will lawfully
do or cause to be done in accordance with this power of attorney.
 PLAIN LEGAL ENGLISH TECHNIQUES
1 – SHORTENING SENTENCES

I give my agent the power to do anything that I have a right

to do now or in the future.
 PLAIN LEGAL ENGLISH TECHNIQUES
1 – SHORTENING SENTENCES
Before: I hereby give my agent the power to exercise or
perform any act, power, duty or right or obligation whatsoever
that I have or may hereafter acquire relating to any person,
matter, transaction or property, real or personal, tangible or
intangible, now owned or hereafter acquired by me, including,
without limitation the following specifically enumerated
powers. I grant to my Agent full power and authority to do
anything necessary in exercising any of the powers granted
herein as fully as I might or could do if personally present, with
full power of substitution or revocation, hereby ratifying and
confirming all that my Agent will lawfully do or cause to be
done by virtue of this power of attorney and the powers
granted herein.
After: I give my agent the power to do anything that I have a
right to do now or in the future.
 LEGAL WRITING - EXERCISE

Exercise: Rewrite the following sentences from letters

and contracts to make them speakable and easier
to understand – some of them have spelling and
grammar mistakes as well as having too many words
or being over-polite:

1. Pursuant to your instructions, I met with Roger

Smith today regarding the above-referenced
cause.
2. Please be advised that the discovery cut-off in the
above-referenced cause is Monday, March 20,
2000.
 LEGAL WRITING - EXERCISE

3. Thank you in advance for your courtesy and

cooperation in this regard. Please do not hesitate
to contact me should you have any questions
regarding this request.
4. In the event that the purchaser’s payments are
late by more than twenty-eight days, he will be
subject to a penalty of $3,500,000.
5. We are sorry that the MD of the Plc was unable to
make the AGM this pm. Unfortunately he was in a
hangover, and was unable to supervise the
proceedings.
 PART 2

Grammar

Using the active voice, Subject, Verb, Object

 SUBJECT, VERB, OBJECT

The court decision will depend upon the judge’s interpretation

of Clause 4 of the contract.

Notice the order of the parts of the sentence.

Subject, verb, object.
 SUBJECT, VERB, OBJECT

The court decision (Subject) will depend (Verb) upon the judge’s
interpretation (Object) of Clause 4 of the contract.

Try to keep this order: Subject, verb, object.

 SUBJECT, VERB, OBJECT

Keep the subject, verb and object at the beginning of the

sentence and the other words and information can come at the
end.
 SUBJECT, VERB, OBJECT

The court decision (Subject) will depend (Verb) upon the judge’s
interpretation (Object) of Clause 4 of the contract, as this
section deals with the payments which are still owing.
 SUBJECT, VERB, OBJECT

The supplier will provide vehicles which are suitable for the
purchaser’s requirements which will be found in the list of
requirements contained in schedule 2 of this contract.
 SUBJECT, VERB, OBJECT

e.g.
The supplier will provide vehicles which are suitable for the
purchaser’s requirements.
These requirements will be found in the list contained in
schedule 2 of this contract.
 SUBJECT, VERB, OBJECT

The subject is the doer, the person or thing doing something.

The main verb is what the doer is doing.

The object is who or what it is being done to.

 SUBJECT, VERB, OBJECT

Remember – Keep them as close as possible to the beginning of

the sentence and let the amplifiers, phrases and other
information come later.
 SUBJECT, VERB, OBJECT

Consider this long, convoluted sentence:

If any member of the board retires the company at the
discretion of the board and after notice from the chairman of
the board to all the members of the board at least 30 days
before executing this option may buy and the retiring member
must sell the member's interest in the company.

In essence, the sentence says:

The company may buy a retiring member's interest.
 SUBJECT, VERB, OBJECT

Let’s re-write this information to make it clearer.

Let’s cut the information up into smaller pieces in shorter

sentences. Each with a subject, verb, object.
 SUBJECT, VERB, OBJECT

The company may buy a retiring member’s interest.

 SUBJECT, VERB, OBJECT

The company may buy a retiring member’s interest. The decision

is at the option of the board.
 SUBJECT, VERB, OBJECT

The company may buy a retiring member’s interest. The decision

is at the option of the board. The chairman must give notice to
all board members at least 30 days before the purchase.
 SUBJECT, VERB, OBJECT

The company may buy a retiring member’s interest. The decision

is at the option of the board. The chairman must give notice to
all board members at least 30 days before the purchase. The
retiring member must sell if the option is exercised.
SUBJECT, VERB, OBJECT - EXERCISE

Exercise: Change the sentences that are passive to

active.
1. An answer must be filed within twenty days after
the filing of the complaint.
2. A plaintiff must file a reply to a counterclaim.
3. Affirmative defenses must be raised in the answer,
or they are waived.
4. The crime was committed by John Smith, who had
formerly been Susan's client.
5. The verdict was read by the clerk.
6. Mary's argument was not understood by the judge;
nevertheless, she ruled in favor of Mary’s client.
 PART 3

Legal Vocabulary

Problem words
 PROBLEM WORDS

Because English derives from at least four different

linguistic traditions, some words, even ordinary English
words, have more than one meaning.
Whilst this causes problems in everyday speech, the
problems are made worse for lawyers by the fact
that some of the words are given a differnet meaning
when used in a legal sense.
It is important that you understand the different
meanings of these problem words and so we will run
through the most commonly used in this lesson.
 PROBLEM WORDS

Only, when used as an adverb, has four meanings:

1. It can be used to mean ‘nothing or no one else
but’ (‘only qualified lawyers are able to draft these
documents’).
2. It can also mean ‘with the negative result that’ (‘he
turned, only to find his path was blocked’).
3. A further meaning is ‘no longer ago than’ (‘it was
only on Thursday that the document arrived’).
4 Lastly, it can mean ‘not until’ (‘we can finalise the
contract only when the document arrives’).
 PROBLEM WORDS

Only

The positioning of the word in a sentence is of critical

importance. The meaning of the whole sentence can
change, according to where it is placed.
Generally, it should go immediately in front of the
word or phrase which it is qualifying: e.g., ‘the only
cows are seen on the northern plain’ has a different
meaning to ‘the cows are only seen on the northern
plain’, which in turn has a different meaning to ‘the
cows are seen on only the northern plain’.
 PROBLEM WORDS

Fewer or Less?
These words are often used incorrectly, even by
native speakers of English!

Fewer should be used with plural nouns, as in ‘eat

fewer cakes’ or ‘there are fewer people here today’.
Less should be used with nouns referring to things that
cannot be counted, as in ‘there is less blossom on this
tree’. It is wrong to use less with a plural noun (‘less
people’, ‘less cakes’).
 PROBLEM WORDS

Can or may?

Can is mainly used to mean ‘to be able to’, as in the

sentence ‘Can he move?’, which means, is he
physically able to move?

May is used when asking to be allowed to do

something as in ‘may we leave now?’, as can is
thought to be less correct or less polite in such cases.
 PROBLEM WORDS

Imply or infer?
Do not confuse the words imply and infer. They can
describe the same situation, but from different points
of view.
If a speaker or writer implies something, as in ‘he
implied that the manager was a fool’, it means he is
suggesting something though not saying it directly.
If you infer something from what has been said, as in
‘we inferred from his words that the manager is a
fool’, this means that, whatever he said, you came to
the conclusion that this is what his words really meant.
 PROBLEM WORDS

Non- or un-?

The prefixes non- and un- both mean ‘not’ but they
tend to be used in slightly different ways.
Non- is more neutral in meaning, while un- means an
opposite and thus often suggests a particular bias or
standpoint. For example, unnatural means that
something is not natural in a bad way, whereas non-
natural simply means ‘not natural’. As a consequence,
where there is a genuine choice about which prefix to
use, non- is preferred in legal writing (e.g. non-
statutory instead of unstatutory).
 PROBLEM WORDS

If or whether?
Although ‘if’ can mean ‘whether’, it is better to use
the word ‘whether’ rather than ‘if’ in writing
(‘I’ll see whether he left an address’ rather than ‘I’ll
see if he left an address’).
‘Whether’ is slightly more formal and better for written
legal correspondence, wheras ‘if’ is easier in
conversation.
Note the different word ‘weather’. Same
pronunciation, different meaing and spelling.
 PROBLEM WORDS

Specially or especially?

Although ‘especially’ and ‘specially’ can both mean

‘particularly’, they are not exactly the same.

Especially also means ‘in particular, chiefly’, as in ‘he

distrusted them all, especially Karen’,
while specially also means ‘for a special purpose’ as
in ‘the machine was specially built for this job’.
 PROBLEM WORDS

Held

Held can mean the past tense of the verb ‘to hold’
e.g. I held the files in my hand.

It can also mean to agree with someone e.g. I held

with Robert about which was the better team.

It can also refer to the decision of the court e.g. the

court held that the earlier decision was wrong.
 PROBLEM WORDS

Save

Save usually means to rescue from harm or danger.

However, it can also be used to mean ‘except’. It is
frequently used in this sense in legal documents. e.g.
No warranties are given save as to those set out in
Schedule 3.
You will frequently used in a pairing with ‘except’ e.g.
All deliveries will be made on Mondays save and
except for those requiring delivey by sea.
 PROBLEM WORDS

Client or customer?

Generally speaking, businesses that provide

professional services (e.g. lawyers, accountants)
have clients, while businesses that sell products (e.g.
retailers) have customers.
 PROBLEM WORDS

Two words and phrases, commonly used in English

legal drafting have produced constant litigation: best
endeavours and forthwith.

Best endeavours is often used in contracts to indicate

that parties have promised to attempt to do
something. It is often used to suggests a compromise
in which neither party is prepared to accept a clear
statement of their obligations. e.g.We will use our best
endeavours to obtain the Landlord’s consent to the
assignment.
 PROBLEM WORDS

Forthwith causes problems because it is too vague to

create certainty in a contract. Forthwith could mean
hours or weeks. Everything depends on the context,
e.g, in one English case ‘forthwith’ was held to be
‘within 14 days’. In another ‘notice’ of an event on a
Friday - given the following Monday, was not given
‘forthwith’. In another, the duty to submit a claim
‘forthwith’ was held not to arise until a Gov’t Dep’t
had the information to allow the claim to be
decided.
The best idea, if time is of the essence, is to specify a
precise time and date by which something must be
done.
 PROBLEM WORDS EXERCISE

Here are some other problem words. Can you

choose a right answer?

1. You are not (eligible/illegible) to practise as a

lawyer in this country unless you have received
official authorisation to do so.
2. The testimony given by the witness was not entirely
(credible/creditable).
3. I have always been completely
(disinterested/uninterested) in what judges do in
their spare time.
 PROBLEM WORDS EXERCISE

4. It is an important legal (principal/principle) that

the accused should be presumed to be not guilty
until proven guilty.
5. The present economic recession will
(affect/effect) this company adversely.
 PROBLEM WORDS EXERCISE
Here are the right answers:
1. You are not eligible to practise as a lawyer in this
country unless you have received official
authorisation to do so.
2. The testimony given by the witness was not entirely
credible.
3. I have always been completely disinterested in
what judges do in their spare time.
4. It is an important legal principle that the accused
should be presumed to be not guilty until proven
guilty.
5. The present economic recession will affect this
company adversely.
BRITISH LEGAL CENTRE

Thank you for your attention

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