Lawsagna

Personal Energy Management Teleclass

You are motivated, ambitious, hardworking, and at the same time, you often feel overworked, overscheduled, overwhelmed.  If this rings true, join me on August 5, 9:00pm ET for my free 1-hour tele-coaching class on mind/body approaches to personal energy management.  Just fill out the form below and you will receive the details of the call.  The recording will be available to those who register but can’t attend the live call.  Bring your questions.  To learn more, visit http://www.selfhelpbookmuse.com/events--teleseminars.html

Interview with Cheryl Stephens, the author of “Plain Language Legal Writing”

I wonder sometimes how much time and energy we waste on creating and reading legal texts that are hard to understand.  It is a sad situation that many people expect legal documents to be incomprehensible.  Cheryl Stephens is set to change that with her new book  Plain Language Legal Writing.  I am happy to offer you my interview with Cheryl.

Cheryl Stephens, of Building Rapport, the plain language blog, is a leader in the field of plain language communication, and provides training and workshops to clients all over North America. She is making a guest appearance today promoting her new book, Plain Language Legal Writing.

Lawsagna:  Your work is in the area of plain language. Can you tell us about that? What’s plain language all about?

Cheryl Stephens:  Plain language is writing, or any language, that is clear and understandable, so that it’s easy for people to get — and use — information that is important to a person's life.

Lawsagna:  What kind of information?

Cheryl Stephens:  Well, think of anyplace you’ve seen legalese in your own life: contracts, regulations, waiver forms and releases, even the agreement you have to sign whenever you install software or sign up for something online.

Lawsagna:  And you’re saying those things don’t have to be written in legalese? Isn’t the law inherently complex?

Cheryl Stephens:  There is no reason that legal language — language regulating legal rights and duties — has to be incomprehensible. It can be made plain enough for its intended audience.

Plain legal language is being written every day. Those who defend out-dated, poorly-written gibberish on the grounds of its complexity should be embarrassed.

Lawsagna:  What other common arguments against plain language do you hear?

Cheryl Stephens:  People say it is "talking down" to people or "dumbing down." I have learned that real experts have internalized and integrated their special knowledge to the point where they can talk of it in simple language—without any mystery. Anyone who can't do that, and complains about being asked to "dumb it down," is a pompous ass.

Lawsagna:  If few lawyers and few clients like to read legalese, why do you think we continue to see it?  What is the biggest barrier to the wide use of plain language?

Cheryl Stephens:  Lawyers need to develop new writing habits. That is all. Once you have learned to write legalese and you have done it for years, it is ingrained in your thinking patterns.

I have been working at plain language for 19 years, and still, my first drafts often follow traditional legal phrasing and sentence structure, and I have to think twice about word choices.

So make that two things: develop new writing habits, and allow yourself enough time for each writing project to do it right.

Lawsagna:  Are there any risks of using plain language?

Cheryl Stephens:  Depends who does it. A person who is not well-versed in the law, in general, should not write contracts. But many organizations think they can write their own plain language contracts. I do not advise it because there have been lawsuits resulting when an amateur's rewrite changes the substantive content. Lawyers better do it.

Lawsagna:  In our fast-paced world, people look for easier and faster ways to process information. Internet and social networks have changed the way we read, aggregate information, and collaborate on projects.  What is the relationship between plain language and Web 2.0?

Cheryl Stephens:

1. Plain English is the language of the Internet, and W3.
2. Plain Language favors the use of standard grammar, spelling, and punctuation. I am not sure those standards are respected by Web 2.0 (btw, can you define that in plain English?).

[Lawsagna:   It looks like people are still debating the meaning of Web 2.0.  According to Wikipedia, which is an example of Web 2.0, “Web 2.0 is a term describing the trend in the use of World Wide Web technology and web design that aims to enhance creativity, information sharing, and, most notably, collaboration among users.”  So, can we say in plain language that Web 2.0 refers to the use of web technology and web design to promote creativity, information exchange and collaboration among users?]

Lawsagna: Do certain practice areas use plain language more than others?

Cheryl Stephens:  Family law, juvenile law, criminal law, immigration -- for individual practitioners.
Banking and consumer law for institutions (but not by their choice).

Lawsagna:  Do you have any suggestions for someone who wants to find a lawyer that uses plain language?

Cheryl Stephens: No, my suggestion is to lawyers: advertise that you provide service in plain language—if it's true.

People are always asking me for a referral to a plain language lawyer in a particular practice area in a specific geographic area. I send out an email asking my contacts if they know of someone. This is always anecdotal. To my knowledge, only major Australian law firms have pushed their plain language skills in their marketing.

Lawsagna:  In your book, you talk about visual aids.  Could you explain their function in legal writing?

Cheryl Stephens:  Charts, graphs, maps. These are increasingly being used as schedules to laws, by-laws, and contracts. For any legal matter that a firm handles regularly, the firm should (have an expert) develop some graphical resources for client use. These reinforce the message in your text.

Also, you have written on your blog about the different learning styles of students. People have different information-processing styles, too. So the more variety you use in correspondence, the more likely you are to get the information across.

For example, if clients are missing important appointments, consider using three tactics in future:
 1. Send a clear, simple letter that ONLY confirms the appointment (and has no substantive material).
 2. Include with that letter a page, or appointment card, showing:
    * the calendar month with the date checked,
    * a clock face with the hands set to the appointment time.
 3. Have your receptionist call the day before to confirm the appointment.

It may seem like a big hassle, but it will work.

Lawsagna:  What do you need to know to write in plain English?

Cheryl Stephens:  We have a process which takes into account the reader's interest, reading skill, and need for the information. It is an elaboration of the classical approach to writing effectively.

By the way, we now talk about plain language instead of plain English, because the ideas apply to communication in any language. Whatever the language, the aim is clarity and usefulness of the information.

In English, a number of shortcuts and guidelines have been developed to help the person who is not a writer by profession. Most of the US state laws requiring plain English set out some of these as requirements or measurements of plainness. In Canada, the laws tend to demand qualities like "clear" or "readable" and so on.

Lawsagna:  You’re having a contest, aren’t you? What’s that all about?

Cheryl Stephens:  It’s a contest to rewrite a section of the U.S. Copyright Act — both to rewrite it as the law would look in plain English, and to write a clear explanation for the general public.

Lawsagna:  What are you trying to accomplish with this contest?

Cheryl Stephens:  I want to show the difference between legal drafting and legal writing. One task is to redraft the legislation in plain language, and that’s a specialized skill. Not every lawyer needs to know how to do that. But the other task, to explain the law in plain language — that’s a skill every lawyer does need.

Lawsagna:  And that’s what your new book is about?

Cheryl Stephens:  Yes. I wanted to write a simple but complete guide for lawyers who want to make their writing clearer.

Lawsagna:  Well, I think you’ve done a great job. Can you tell us where we can learn more about the book, and about the contest?

Cheryl Stephens:  Yes, there’s a web page for the book. PlainLanguageLegalWriting.com, and there’s a link to the contest on that page as well.

Bar exam review

For July bar exam takers, here's a round-up of my earlier posts to help you prepare:

How to take exams with the champion’s mindset

Memory techniques

8 times smarter : learning with multiple intelligences

Getting ready for the bar exam

More bar exam tips

How to create memorable flashcards

Tip bit #21: Change the word

On stress and memory

8 bar exam preparation myths busted

Mnemonics to remember the future estates

Best diet before a test

Tip Bit #29: Run away from panic

Best of luck!

Using multiple intelligences for health and wellness

Yesterday, I led a session on bridging the gap between information and transformation at “My Ultimate Mind-Body Makeover” event organized by Master Coach, NLP Practitioner and Audio Author Sue Stebbins, the founder of Successwaves.  We discussed the topic of information imbalances and the ways to correct them by engaging multiple intelligences.

We may not think of ourselves as information, but that's what we are:  the cells in our bodies contain information about who we are, what traits and predispositions we have.  The information is also all around us.  It comes to us through a variety of channels:  text, images, people, experiences, dreams, insights, feelings, emotions, etc.  Our reality is, in essence, defined by the combinations of information:  what information we choose to recognize and what information we ignore, how we access and interpret this information, and how we integrate it into the knowledge we already possess.  

Have you ever played with kaleidoscopes - those tubes of mirrors with loose colored beads?  You turn and shake them, and the same stones form different colorful patterns reflecting off the mirrors.  Our minds can be like kaleidoscopes.  We receive the same pieces of information, but they get reflected off the mirrors of our experiences, attitudes, beliefs, and form our own, unique patterns of understanding.

Learning is about taking in information, making it your own, and using it to function well in the world.  I wonder if a person who only uses some information channels but not others is at risk of information imbalances.  For example, as lawyers, we have been trained to rely on our cognitive skills to solve problems and ignore our gut feeling and intuition in favor of critical thinking and analysis.  An unfortunate consequence is that we often stop recognizing the intelligence of our bodies.  The disengagement from the wisdom of our bodies manifests itself in addictive behaviors, compulsive eating, prolonged stress, anxieties, and a multitude of other health and mental issues.  The good news is that this body intelligence is always present and available to us, but we have to re-learn how to access it and interpret its messages.  Engaging multiple intelligences can help open up some of those underused information channels.  Here are some examples:

1. Use your bodily-kinesthetic intelligence to take time throughout your busy day to notice how your body feels.  Think on your feet:  let your body guide you when you need to make a decision.  If you experience muscle tension, a "pit" in stomach, or a sudden headache, perhaps, your body is telling you that you are moving in a wrong direction. 
2. Use your logical-mathematical intelligence to rebel against your own limiting thinking.  Flip your assumptions, mock the established thinking patterns, and come up with fresh, powerful, energizing ideas. 
3. Use your linguistic intelligence to build a healthier vocabulary and ban toxic words that poison your body.  Avoid negative conversations when you eat because the chemicals your brain sends through your body in response to the negative emotions and stress affect your digestion.
4. Use your spatial intelligence to practice stress-reducing visualizations.  Here’s the one I like to use.  Close your eyes and imagine that you are near the ocean.  As you are walking along the shore, you feel the softness and warmth of the white sand under your bare feet.  And with each step you take, your worries and anxieties just dissipate into the sand.  You feel peaceful and relaxed…  
5. Use your musical intelligence to listen to natural sounds of wind, waves, leaves, birds, etc. to harmonize your body and mind.
6. Use your naturalist intelligence to explore how a certain concept that’s relevant to you is played out in nature.  BEAUTY, BALANCE, PURPOSE, HARMONY are all good candidates.  For example, if you want more balance in your life, you can explore how nature manifests it.
7. Use your intrapersonal intelligence to learn what brings you joy and energy and do more of it!
8. Use your interpersonal intelligence to strengthen your support system and share your curiosity, humor, creativity, and appreciation with others.

Related post:  For suggestions on how multiple intelligences can be used in law school, read 8 times smarter : learning with multiple intelligences.