Legal Writing and Drafting Skills
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Legal Writing and Drafting Skills Course
Introduction:
Legal drafting" is preparing any written legal document--a motion, a letter, a brief, a memo, or a contract. Lawyers and law teachers use the phrase in this way all the time: "Draft a brief" or "draft a letter." it also means the task of preparing a transaction, which includes a lot more than putting words on paper. It includes the substance of the underlying law, strategies for representing a client in a transaction, the skill of negotiation, and the ability to close a transaction.
Legal Writing and Drafting Skills training course equips lawyers to perform at a higher level, which should reduce supervision time, improve leverage and increase profitability.
This Course reduces legal risk by clarifying areas that might otherwise lead to claims. The course increases client satisfaction because documents are clearer and easier to read, thus reducing the risk of later contractual disputes.
Course Objectives:
By the end of the Legal Writing and Drafting Skills training 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
Who Should Attend?
The legal Writing and Drafting Skills training course, is ideal for:
- Lawyers, legal secretaries, commercial managers, contract managers, and anyone who must draft, amend, or update contracts, legal letters, and legal opinions.
- The course is suitable for non-native English speakers looking for a better understanding of English legal terms.
Course Outlines:
Taking the right approach
- Discussion of the lawyer’s role and the importance of asking the right questions
- Identifying and allocating risks
Drafting letters and Proofreading
- Structure of a typical agreement
- The dangers of poor drafting – how the court might interpret your drafting
User-friendly drafting
- What does effective legal drafting look like?
- Six techniques for producing clear, user-friendly drafting
- Improving poor drafting
Drafting from scratch using precedents
- A four-stage approach to drafting from scratch
- Drafting key clauses
- Making the most of precedents and templates
“White-water drafting”
- Danger areas where drafting is particularly susceptible to disputes
Refresher on “boilerplate” language clarifying the legal meaning (based on case law or statute) of many standard words and phrases
