Legal Examples
Support for plain-writing is growing in the legal professions, which bring us some of our best and most varied examples of plain-writing.
External links are shown with a "
".
The American Bar Association passed this resolution advising federal agencies to write regulations in plain language.
Statutes and other legal documents
Informed Consent Template for Cancer Treatment Trials
(English Language) developed by National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The Federal Judicial Center developed plain–language
versions of different types of class
action notices .
California's Civil
Jury Instructions .
Pennsylvania's Plain
Language Consumer Contract Act
requires contracts to be in written in plain language.
England's Parliament passed a Clearer
Timeshare Act
in 1993.
Journals, articles, essays
Judge Mark P. Painter of the Ohio First District Court Of Appeals wrote two excellent articles on plain legal writing:
Appellate Practice—Including Legal Writing From A Judge’s Perspective
Martin Cutts of England's Plain Language Commission published
his classic Lucid
Law originally
in 1994, with an updated version in 2000.
Clarity is an international organization dedicated to
clear legal and official writing. Its journal, Clarity
,
includes many articles about legal writing.
Law and Justice Foundation of New South Wales, Australia, "seeks to advance the fairness and equity of the justice system, and to improve access to justice, especially for socially and economically disadvantaged people." The Foundation sees plain legal writing as an essential element of this goal. Its website includes information on guides to plain-language writing and access to its free bi-monthly plain language law newsletter.
