Course Methodology

The course consists of group discussions as well as individual and team tasks. There will be writing practice throughout the exercises.

Course Objectives

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Apply plain English style of writing to all legal documents
• Recognize the need for legal clarity in different types of legal documents: legal letters, emails, memorandum and opinions
• Apply good legal writing practice
• Demonstrate the register of legal writing
• Correct common mistakes in legal writing 
• Dispense and deal with pitfalls and issues relating to the use of legal jargon
• Proofread effectively 

Target Audience

This course is for lawyers, legal secretaries, commercial managers, contract managers and anyone who must draft, amend or update contracts, legal letters and legal opinion. The course is suitable for non-native English speakers looking for a better understanding of English legal terms.

Target Competencies

• Drafting letters
• Proofreading
• Writing in plain English
• Understanding legal terms
• Legal writing practice

Legal Drafting 

• Signs of a well drafted contract: The simple rules!
• The language of drafting: Will v Shall v Must
• Identifying the legal formalities for a binding contract
• Structure and formation of a commercial contract: follow the formula and you won’t go wrong
• The importance of Boilerplate clauses:
• No waiver
• Notices
• Assignment v Novation
• Governing v Jurisdiction
• Force majeure - are we covered for viruses (covid19)?
• Dispute resolution clause: Litigation v Arbitration v Mediation
• The preliminary documents in international transaction - using Heads of Terms effectively
• Vague words and expressions in commercial contracts - know the pitfalls!
• Best endeavors v All reasonable endeavors v reasonable endeavors
• Overview of cross border contracts: Distribution v Joint venture v Agency agreements
• Share Purchase Agreements
• Warranties and indemnities:
• Allocating risks and liabilities between the buyer and seller
• Negotiating warranties from a Share Purchase Agreement 

Plain English in Legal Correspondence

• Good legal writing practice
• Moving from legalese to Plain English
• Unnecessary archaic and meaningless phrases
• Collocations
• Importance of collocations in legal writing
• Pitfalls and issues relating to the use of legal jargon in legal writing
• Writing short emails
• Writing long emails
• Writing formal emails

Writing A Legal Letter

• Layout of a letter
• Body of a letter
• Putting a letter together
• The register of letter writing
• Typical sentences in legal letters
• The letter writing clinic: looking at the ten most common problems
• Rewriting letters
• Rewriting informal sentences to modern alternatives
• Correcting common mistakes in letter writing

Legal Writing Troubleshooting

• The problem of English idioms
• Rephrasing English idioms
• Easily confused words
• Cutting unnecessary words
• Use of consistent terminology
• Ambiguity: how to avoid it
• Vagueness: how to avoid it
• Misuse of preposition in dates
• Problem words
• Constantly litigated words
• Rewriting sentences to remove gender specific language