Structure
Planning
Think and analyze the problem.
What am I trying to achieve?
What does the client want?
What information do I need before I start?
Has the client given me all the information I need?
Perhaps I did not understand all the ramification of the client's problem when the client first came to me. Should I now contact the client again and get the additional information I need or clarify anything that I don't understand?
Read the Information.
Don't begin work on the document until you think you have a clear idea of the issue.
Ask yourself: Do I really need a document at all?
Write your plan.
Even quite simple letters should follow a plan.
The more complex the document, the more detailed the plan.
Plan can be diagram, list, flowchart, heading and points.
Arrange the order for the purpose.
Important points first.
Things to remember.
a. When you use a plan, you can set your own structure, tailored for the particular task at hand.
b. your ideas can set the structure; they should not have to fit an existing structure if it is not the best structure.
c. The plain language drafting looks not only at the words being used and what they mean but also at the organization of the words in a sentence, the sentence in a document, and the design and layout of the document itself.
d. The combination of all these things governs how effective the document is at communicating information and helping leaders understand and use it.
e. A document written in the simplest words and arranged in short sentences will still be difficult to understand if the information is poorly organized.
Organization
Think, what is the best way to organize information?
It depends on the purpose or request of the client.
Logical sequence should be arranged.
For example, or later of advice on a complex question might need to be arranged so that the reader is carefully taken, step by step, through a logical sequence that will help the reader to understand why you are giving the advice you are giving. Similarly, a document such as a mortgage or lease is not susceptible to the same sort of logical arrangement as a letter of advice, but the provisions can still be arranged in the order that this draws the parties’ attention to the clauses that are most important for them. Acts and other laws can be set out so that their main points are not hidden among their procedural and mechanical aspects.
Important things first.
According to the principle ‘important things first’, there is one common factor governing the best way to organize information: the most important parts should be put first. And when we are deciding what is the most important part, we look at it from the readers’ point of view - not ours or from the perspective of the writer. That is a very important distinction to make. One of the fundamentals of plain language drafting is ‘consider the reader’.
What is the most important part of a document for the reader?
The answer depends on what the reader is looking for in this particular case, though there are few general guidelines. For example,
Letter of advice:
Answer of the client's question.
Loan and security documents:
The loan amounts.
The security
The interest rate
Payment dates
Leases:
The property leased.
The term of lease
The rent amounts.
The rent payment
Legislation:
What it is about
Who administers it.
What other legislation is affected by it.
Judgment
The verdict
The reason of the verdict
Arranging things so that the reader gets the answer to the question, or the most important material first has two other advantages:
a. It gives the reader context in which to read all subsidiary information. That makes it easier on the reader. It is likely that the reader will understand the material better because they have a context - they know where is all leading.
b. It makes the information more usable by the reader. That in turn shows that you are sensitive to the readers needs and if the reader is your client, you are presenting material in a way that makes your client more efficient in his or her business. Most importantly, your writing becomes a marketing tool.
Put related material together.
The order guiding organizing principle is to put related material together. If the reader can see a pattern in your logic, it will be easier for them to grasp. This might seem simple, but it requires discipline to identify and classify material in this way. It also requires you to be willing to rewrite and reclassify material if new relationships between parts of the material occur to you as you are writing, or as you collect new material.
Paragraph
It is easier to cope with material that is divided into "bite-sized chunks."
Reading is a learning process.
Cognitive psychologists say that we learn incrementally, by putting smaller chunks of information together to build a gradual understanding or the whole.
We like to see lots of "white space" around what we are reading.
It makes it look easier to read and more inviting.
Writing paragraphs that go on and on without break - stream of consciousness.
According to Elizabeth Murphy “A paragraph should be a unit of thought, not of length, having one main topic sentence and perhaps several supporting sentences plus a final sentence leading the reader to the next paragraphs.”
Sub-paragraph
Sub paragraphs help to divide the material up so that it is more easily digested, but they can also be used for emphasis, or to draw the reader's attention to a similarly in the subject matter or to draw the reader's attention to a similarity in the subject-matter.
The trustees may invest in:
(a) shares;
(b) debentures;
(c) bills of exchanges; and
(d) certificates of deposit.
Document "Add-ons": schedules, appendixes, annexures
It is often convenient to be able to hive off (remove from group and make separate) material that does not need to appear in the main body of the document. If that material is not a primary important, it can be put in schedules appendixes or annexures.
Some people say:
Schedule is for short details, like parties name and address, the address of the leased property, the rent payable and termination date. There is also the theory that schedules are part of an agreement itself and therefore come after the testimonium (in witness whereof...) but before execution clauses.
Appendix should be reserved for documents.
Annexures should be reserved for unwieldy things like maps and computer printouts.
It is better to pick one of these labels, put all your hive off secondary material into it and use the numbering (Schedule 1, 2, 3)
Sentence Structure
Sentence Structure is also an important mechanical aspect of plain language writing. The sentence is used to fill in the framework of the structure of the document. The type of sentence we use in legal drafting depends on the readers. If the readers are experts, complex sentences are acceptable, but for the beginners and laymen, the plain language writer should use simple and readily understandable sentences.
Sentence length
We should avoid writing long sentences.
The brain can handle only a couple of clauses at a time depending on their length.
If we pile clauses in a sentence and embed them one in the other, we virtually ensure that what we write won't be understood on the first reading.
Some authorities suggest 20 - 25 words in an appropriate average length.
Editors suggest 24 words.
Reporters suggest 17 words.
New South Wales parliamentary Counsel's office aims for sentences with maximum length of five lines (B5 legislative format), expressing one central idea.
US Federal Court's Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedures recommends aiming for fewer than 25 words and 30 at most.
Punctuation
The only thing that actually controls sentence length is the full stop. But for the long sentence we all have to use from time to time, punctuation can make them manageable.
Punctuation helps the reader. It can help to avoid confusion and ambiguity.
- Punctuated documents are less puzzling to other lawyers and judges.
- They are easier for clients and other non-lawyers to understand.
- They are easier to translate into other languages - and an especially important consideration in Europe these days.
Building Sentences
Unity of thought is needed in our sentences. One thought per sentence.
Break the sentence up into the various different thoughts you are expressing and separate them onto separate sentences.
Commas are sometimes a good indicator of sentences that is too complex.
Cases and Condition
What are Coode’s rules?
Coode’s rules are old rules of legal drafting. George Coode was an English Barrister who wrote a famous analysis of legal drafting in 1843. His work, ‘On Legislative Expression’ was probably the first attempt ever made to analyze what happened in the legal drafting process. He called his rules ‘natural rules of drafting’.
Coode’s idea was that there are four basic elements in legislative drafting:
· the legal subject,
· the legal action
· the case
· conditions.
He said that they should appear in this order:
1. Case: “Where a person owns more than one property …”
2. Condition: “……. and if application has been made for a dispensation ... “
3. Legal Subject: “…. the Commissioner ……”
4. Legal Action: “……, may exempt one property from liability to duty.”
Note: - THE PERSON who may or may not or shall or shall not do something or submit to something, is the legal subject of the legal action.
