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Legal English Grammar Book helps lawyers to achieve their goals

The Legal English Grammar Guide is the most popular book on legal English in the world. We discover why so many successful lawyers and law students have it on their bookshelves.

Grammar of Legal English

The Grammar of Legal English

When Legal English UK's Michael Davies sat down at his computer to write the best-selling book The Legal English Grammar Guide, he had no idea of the impact it would have on the industry. 

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Having sold over 10,000 copies, it is the most successful book of its genre and has been consistently since it was first published in 2021.

 

Michael was teaching a group of lawyers from Cisco Systems in Moscow when he realised that there was space for a book that gave clear explanations and examples for lawyers whose first language was not English. 

 

Why is Legal English different from General English?

Legal phrasing in English is derived from a mix of old French, Latin, old English and old Norse (Viking language). This is because of the various countries that invaded England hundreds of years ago.

 

For 300 years, French was the official language of England and while English was the most widely spoken language by the general population, French was used in court proceedings and Latin was used for official documentation.

 

Examples

Here is a sentence written in legal English/legalese:

"I return herewith the stipulation to dismiss the above case; the same being duly executed by me."

 

This sentence contains a mix of French, Latin and English words and is not an uncommon sentence in English law. Some lawyers we know would still write this in a letter. But what does it mean in plain English?

 

"I enclose the document to dismiss the case which has been signed by me."

 

While it is a significantly easier sentence, it does not sound so legal. This is perhaps another reason why British and American lawyers tend to use legalese - they need to show off their expensive education.

 

If you ask a lawyer for the reason for including nouns instead of verbs, writing in the passive voice or using Latin phrases then they will say that it is for the avoidance of any doubt, but many people believe that this is disingenuous; if your command of English is good enough, you should be able to write a watertight document without the need for archaic terms.

 

Campaign

The Plain English Campaign and Legal English UK have been attempting to encourage lawyers to 'tidy up' their use of these terms. Most experts doubt that this will happen as these phrases have been used for hundreds of years and are ingrained in the legal lexicon. It will be difficult to change many years of habit.

 

Click on the links to buy The Legal English Grammar Guide and The Legal English Workbook.

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