6 Comments

"I personally find that the vast majority of legal opinions I encounter are written with the aim of making them readable and accessible by the general public. Am I off-base?"

I have read a number of late, for various reasons, and I have been pleasantly surprised I have to say. As an early supporter of Plain Language in law, my experience with legalese had been less than pleasant in the past. A number of lawyers seem to still hold tight to unnecessarily obscure jargon aimed at intimidating the layman (I have a paralegal acquaintance who is particularly keen on it -- it seems to be inversely proportional to the actual clout of the individual), but it appears to be changing and I am thrilled.

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The awkward and ruthless precision of legalese is sometimes necessary (namely contracts and statutes) but I don't think I've ever encountered it in judicial opinions.

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ha. I know a lawyer who was involved in this case (more or less as a contractor doing doc review) and I knew it was gonna come back to haunt them.

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Someday I might write about the absolute desolate hell that is doc review

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What does "esper" mean here? I can't figure it out.

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