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DPC Introduction and Basics of Drafting

This document provides guidance on clear legal writing. It discusses the importance of planning content logically, using short sentences and paragraphs, and applying proper punctuation. Lawyers are advised to think critically about their writing, identify their readers, and present information in a clear, organized manner using proper grammar and formatting to aid comprehension.

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Bhuvneshwari Rathore
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52 views

DPC Introduction and Basics of Drafting

This document provides guidance on clear legal writing. It discusses the importance of planning content logically, using short sentences and paragraphs, and applying proper punctuation. Lawyers are advised to think critically about their writing, identify their readers, and present information in a clear, organized manner using proper grammar and formatting to aid comprehension.

Uploaded by

Bhuvneshwari Rathore
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Introduction and basics

BY
Shantanu Pachahara
Lawyers have two common failings. One is that they do not write well
and the other is that they think they do. (Carl Felsenfeld, "The Plain
English Movement in the United States, Canadian Business Law Journal,
vol. 6, 1981-82)

Be short, be simple, be human. (Sir Ernest Gowers, The Complete Plain


Words, 3rd edn, HMSO, 1986)
Preparation
• Clear Thinking on Paper
• Before you start writing you should consider:
a. your aims
b. your readers
i. Identify Your Readers – a Who are my readers?
b What will they need to know?
C What action is required?
c. how you plan to organise your writing
i. Why plan?

d. the layout and other conventions you will adopt.


The key steps in planning
a. Write, in note form, all your ideas that spring to mind in the task in hand. Do not, at
this stage, attempt to structure them, e.g. in terms of their relative importance or
concern chronological order. Concentrate on recording all your thoughts on the matter,
trying to make them as comprehensive as possible.
b. Highlight the main ideas or themes, and identify your major headings.
c. Transfer your main headings to a new page and enter keywords concerning facts,
rules, principles, arguments and examples.
d. Decide upon the logical sequence of the items under each main heading, assigning
subheadings where appropriate. If a heading appears to have a daunting number of
items under it, consider breaking them into separate further headings. This will force
you to think hard and logically about your subject matter. Review your plan for relevance
by referring to your defined aims and your assessment of your readers and their needs.
e. Delete all irrelevant material and consider the value of retaining non-essential items.
f. Number the headings in the order you intend to present the material.
The order of your material
a. chronological order: setting out the sequence of events;
b. categorical order: information sorted under categories;
c. ascending order of complexity: simplest first;
d. descending order of importance: the most important first;
e. ascending order of importance: most important last.

• The Importance of Layout


a. Layout can aid readability Most are unaccustomed to large blocks of text and
will find them unappetizing.
b. Layout can provide a guide to meaning
Layout can help to create a polished impression Never underestimate the power
of presentation. The impact of a well (or badly) laid out document can create a
significant and lasting impression of the writer
• Some Layout Guidelines
a. Line spacing and indentation
b. Margins and white space
c. Tables and Charts
d. Italics

• References to Statutes and Cases


• Dates and Numbers
• Sentences and Paragraphs
unity of thought and clarity of expression
Not to wander from one idea to another
The corollary of this rule is that two or more disconnected ideas require
separate sentences or paragraphs.

• The lawyer's tendency towards long sentences


• The problem with long sentences
The average sentence length in business and official writing is high. In
contracts, government regulations and legal correspondence, averages
of 45, with sentences of 60 words or more, are common.

An order for an interim payment may be made, provided the District Judge is
satisfied that the defendant has admitted liability, or that the claimant has
already obtained judgment with damages to be assessed, or that if the action
went to trial, the claimant would be awarded, after deduction of any
contribution likely for contributory negligence, 'substantial' damages, and in the
present case £50,000 is likely to be regarded as substantial', under CPR r. 25.7.
Russian doll problem – subordinate clauses – Additional information in
parenthesis

A District Judge may make an order for an interim payment under CPR r. 25.7.
He may do so provided the claimant satisfies him that the defendant has
admitted liability, or that the claimant has already obtained judgment with
damages to be assessed, or that if the action went to trial, the claimant would
be awarded (after deduction of any contribution likely for contributory
negligence) substantial damages. In the present case he is likely to regard
£50,000 as 'substantial.

Remedy: break into sentences; fill the gap between the subject and the
object with greater use of active voice.
• Keep sentences short
There can be no hard-and-fast rules with sentence length but as a general guideline
you should aim at an average of 25 words or fewer.
Average sentence length may be adjusted according to your assessment of the likely
readership.

• How to cut long sentences short


a. try to avoid non-essential qualifications to the main point in the same sentence.
b. ou should always try to edit sentences with over 40 words, even if you have
decided your readers are likely to be relatively sophisticated.
c. Be ruthless and cut any words or phrases that add little in support of your main
point in the sentence. These are superfluous, however good you think they
sound. They devalue your sentence.
d. Delete all redundant words and phrases.
• Paragraphs
Properly used, paragraphs will help you to achieve two objectives:
1. They will aid comprehension by separating one theme from another.
2. They will also provide a natural pause for the reader's mind to absorb and
reflect upon one theme before embarking on the next.

• Average paragraph length


A good rule of thumb is that paragraphs should on average be less than six
sentences long.
The length of a paragraph will largely be determined by the complexity or
importance of the theme and your assessment of the likely readership of the
document.
• you should check that you are keeping to one main theme per paragraph.
• Punctuation
It seems strange that the idea of good punctuation as crucial to good writing,
a fact universally recognized outside the legal profession, has only been
acknowledged within the legal world in relatively recent times.

• Lawyers' Excuse for Omitting Punctuation


The advocates of sparse punctuation seek to justify the practice on the
grounds that punctuation can be misleading.
Some Guidelines
Punctuation marks are like traffic signals to your readers.
They provide rhythm, telling your readers when to pause, slow down, stop and go on.
Using too many commas and too few full stops are the most common punctuation problems.

• Capitals
a. Capitals are appropriate for full titles of persons, ranks, officers, institutions, countries,
buildings and books - whether general or particular, singular or plural.
b. When referring to institutions, bodies and the like by use of an abbreviated form of the name,
the use of an initial capital is permissible, e.g. 'Commissioners' for 'Commissioners for the of
the National Debt’.
c. Sometimes a capital letter is conventionally used to distinguish one meaning of a word from
another, e.g. 'State' (organised community), 'state' (condition). However, this distinction is
often unnecessary because the meaning ought to be clear from the context.
• Commas
a. comma is primarily used to insert a pause into a sentence so as to break it up into
articulate phrases or clauses. The test, when inserting a comma into a sentence of two or
more clauses, is to read the whole sentence, noting where the voice naturally pauses.
b. Commas may operate as a form of parenthesis in the same manner as a pair of dashes or
brackets and must then come in pairs, The trap with using commas in this way is that it is
easy to open the parenthesis with a comma but fail to spot the omission of the closing
comma:
A counter-notice must be given to the landlord, who may, or may not, be the immediate landlord who
served the notice terminating the tenancy and must be given within two months of the landlord's
notice.
The passage should have read:
A counter-notice must be given to the landlord (who may, or may not, be the immediate landlord) who
served the notice terminating the tenancy and must be given within two months of the landlord's
notice.
c. Commas are used to separate words of the same type in a list three or more items, or to
separate a series of phrases or clause Commas can be particularly important when listing
given names and surnames. Consider the clarity of the following
d. A comma is used to mark off such words and phrases as:
'therefore, however, of course, for instance.’
• Semicolons
The semicolon, a longer pause than a comma, separates complete clauses, or quasi-
sentences within one sentence.
a. To separate coordinate clauses when conjunctions, especially 'and', are omitted.
b. In enumerations consisting of predicate phrases or clauses (not single words)
dependent on the same subject and main verb:
She said that she was now always tired; in constant pain, physically less mo- bile: unable to
continue in her work.
c. o separate two coordinate clauses, particularly where the second begins with a
conjunction (moreover, nevertheless, other- wise, therefore) developing an idea
contained in the first:
You must file an acknowledgement of service; otherwise the claimant may enter judgment in
default.
• Colons
Colons are used:
a. To add a sentence or phrase to another sentence or phrase, such as a
conclusion, deduction or illustration which follows from the premise of the first
phrase.
b. To introduce a list (but not where the list is simply the object ofa verb, e.g. 'He
sued the owners, their agents and employees’).
To introduce a summary to a statement: The position is as follows: we have to recognise that
the defendants have a real prospect of successfully defending the claim, that a conditional
order is likely
• Apostrophes
An apostrophe is used to show the possessive
e.g. 'the defendant's solicitor’
In the case of plural possessive the apostrophe comes after the word and the 's' is
usually omitted e.g. Ladies’

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