Building Rapport

5 benefits of adopting plain language

noreply@blogger.com (Stephens) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:10:00 +0000

David Siecker calims to be America's best communicator... Well, he does a fine job of explaining the good in plain language:

5 Benefits of adopting plain language:

* Reduce the amount of time it takes for individuals or organizations to comply with your instructions. With plain language, your customers can understand your message and instructions the first time they read your documents.
* Cut down on the number of customer service phone calls, inquiries, and complaints. When people don’t understand the information we provide, they contact your front-line staff, hotlines, or government contracted service providers to understand how to act on the information we provide.
* Increase the likelihood that we get the response we are seeking. Some people who receive confusing letters or unclear public documents may not do anything at all. Your letters or pamphlets may end up in the recycling bin or trash.
* Become accessible to more people. Accurate and high quality translation starts with easy-to-read English-language documents. Translators will make fewer mistakes and better convey your message when they are translating plain language documents.
* Increase company/department transparency and hold yourselves accountable for the messages we send the public.

See the full article here.

Foresight--the gift of composure

noreply@blogger.com (Stephens) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 23:20:00 +0000

Yesterday I was in a professional office waiting room. A woman came in and exchanged a few words with the receptionist, then she said, "I didn't know what to expect".

That hit me in the gut. Most of us would never say it aloud, at least not those with insecurities, anxieties, or parents with alcoholism.

That's it, I thought, (after a few twists and turns) that is why the reader wants a real introduction. They don't want to be caught off-guard by an awkward development.
They want to be prepared for what is coming.

UPDATE-National Aboriginal Day in Canada

noreply@blogger.com (Stephens) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 15:34:00 +0000

Anishinabek outlaw term 'aboriginal'

WHITEFISH RIVER FIRST NATION, ON,June 25 /CNW/ - Chiefs of the 42 member communities of the Anishinabek Nation have launched a campaign to eliminate the inappropriate use of the term "aboriginal".

During the annual Grand Council Assembly in this Manitoulin Island community, Chiefs endorsed a resolution that characterized the word as "another means of assimilation through the displacement of our First Nation-specific inherent and treaty rights."

"It's actually offensive to hear that term used in reference to First Nations citizens," said Grand Council Chief John Beaucage.

The resolution notes that the reference to "aboriginal rights" referred to in Section 35 of the Constitution Act of Canada "was never meant to assimilate First Nations, Metis and Inuit into a homogeneous group."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
June 21 is National Aboriginal Day because of the cultural significance of the summer solstice.

The first day of summer and longest day of the year, is celebrated as the rebirth of Mother Earth. The many Aboriginal communities mark this day as a time to celebrate their heritage.

Marking this day for First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples also recognizes their primary and founding place on this continent and their ongoing contributions as First Peoples.

The writing tip for today is that you can use the general term aboriginal, at least in Canada, to refer to First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples.

Different strokes for different folks

noreply@blogger.com (Stephens) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 04:25:00 +0000

A single post by Megan Casey offers several examples of adapting the delivery of a single message for readers with different needs or information processing styles.

Wrestling with Rudeness: Advice for Addressing Incivility

noreply@blogger.com (Stephens) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 20:50:00 +0000

Just want to share this press release about a new book on civility:

Rude behavior can make you want to scream, but confronting a rude person can make you squirm. Given the choice between standing up to a bully and seething in silence, many people pick the latter, at a loss for how to deal with a rude person without intensifying an emotionally charged situation.

Johns Hopkins University's resident civility maven P.M. Forni takes the guesswork out of defusing more than a hundred different everyday hackle-raising scenarios in his new book, The Civility Solution: What to Do When People Are Rude (St. Martin's Press, June 10, 2008). The follow-up to his popular field guide Choosing Civility: The Twenty-five Rules of Considerate Conduct (St. Martin's Press, 2002), The Civility Solution is both an essay on rudeness and a self-defense manual.

A crucial question addressed by Forni: "How can one become the kind of person people are less likely to be rude to?" His answer: If we are consistently considerate, even in the face of rudeness, others will often match our behavior. That, he says, is the civility solution.

"Although we cannot hope to ban rudeness from our lives altogether, we can limit both its occurrences and its impact," says Forni, a professor of Italian literature and director of the Civility Initiative at Johns Hopkins who has worked for more than a decade to illustrate the connections among civility, ethics and quality of life. "When we handle it well, we feel good about ourselves and reap other substantial benefits, such as healing wounded relationships. Being prepared is half the solution to any problem."

In The Civility Solution, Forni prepares his readers to handle real-life scenarios in a number of categories:

• The Near and Not So Dear: Spouses, Family, and Friends
• The Neighbors – Noisy, Nosy, and Nice
• Workplace Woes
• On the Road, In the Air, and Aboard the Train
• The World of Service
• Digital Communication

A kind soul himself, Forni does not advocate angry confrontations. Rather he believes in speaking up in defense of common decency and going out on a limb to let someone know you've been hurt rather than perpetuating the cycle of incivility.

"We teach others how to treat us by how much we are willing to endure from them," Forni says. "It is better not to endure even micro-indignities if they are really bothering you. Find the strength of character to confront that person in an assertive, nonaggressive way and say, 'This is how I feel when you say that, when you do that. I really wish you didn't.' If you keep everything bottled inside, that person will do it again."

An example of the user-friendly advice in The Civility Solution for dealing with such sticky situations is "The SIR Sequence," Forni's shorthand for "state, inform and request." Namely:

• State the facts.
• Inform the other person of the impact he or she has had on you.
• Request that the hurtful behavior not be repeated.

"Do so politely, firmly, and unapologetically," Forni says. "And do it sooner rather than later. You will be more effective and won't have to dread doing it in the future."

Forni has inspired several community-based initiatives across the country to promote civility, including in Maryland, where Howard County's Choose Civility initiative has received international media coverage. He can address a broad range of issues connected to civility and manners for any story on the subject.

Related Web sites:

P.M. Forni's Civility Web site
http://web.jhu.edu/civility

A Q&A with P.M. Forni
http://www.jhu.edu/~gazette/2007/22oct07/22manners.html

Choose Civility in Howard County (Md.)
http://www.choosecivility.org/

Define corporate-speak

noreply@blogger.com (Stephens) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 16:03:00 +0000

"corporate-speak" -- language that is bland, undifferentiated, hard to read with meaning obscured by jargon, waffle, hype, verbiage, legalese and conventionality.

adapted from "Writing as branding" by Matthew Stibbe of Articulate Marketing on BadLanguage http://www.badlanguage.net/ which is a very readable blog.

"Transparency" is murky

noreply@blogger.com (Stephens) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 17:15:00 +0000

"Transparency" is one of the vogue words in government that I hate, along with "embed" and "empower". Not to mention "environmental scan".

Yesterday the word came up on a listserve and was explained as "It has to do with making processes clear -- how decisions get made, for example, or how money gets spent."

I could not find a dictionary offering anything about process, although I know the word is used that way now.

Wallstreet Words offers this:

transparency

The full, accurate, and timely disclosure of information.

This morning I had a look at someone's psychological assessment. Features of "transparency" were identified as:
+ keeps promises
+ brings up ethical concerns
+ acknowledges mistakes
+ acts on own values even at personal cost

I would say the meaning is not widely known, if not actually murky.

And an "L" for "listless"

noreply@blogger.com (Stephens) — Sun, 25 May 2008 18:18:00 +0000

The Word of the Day at Dictionary.Com is "listless":
Having no desire or inclination; indifferent; heedless; spiritless.

Reading the definition this Sunday morning, I saw this interpretation: without a list.

I had been traveling and working so much in the past 2 months that I could not keep up with my posting here and, as time went by, I felt even more listless about posting.

Then I got it into my head that I needed to make a list of possible topics before I could even make one post. But I made my list yesterday, and still... listless.

So what hit me this morning was the thought that our busy lives are managed by lists. But what happens when you have no more lists?

Who wants a retirement that is listless.

Language Log and Canadian Dept of Justice Endorse Singular "They"

noreply@blogger.com (Stephens) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 18:56:00 +0000

Read the Language Log post here.

"L" Is for Lists

noreply@blogger.com (Stephens) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 22:44:00 +0000

Wizard Lists

Lists can make text items easy to read. Lists are a visual way to focus information. Review your draft for suitable lists embedded in the text.

The standard rule is that the items listed must be similar in nature, parallel in grammatical form and of equal importance.

In plain language writing, we ought to be a flexible about that rule. You’ll know the occasion for flexibility when you see it.

Another standard rule: Lists should include at least 3 items and not more than 7.
This is because people remember things better in groups of 3 and with more than 7 items on the list focus is lost.

But my experience tells me that an occasional list of two items works okay. And that I never want more than 5 items on my lists, because far fewer people can process, remember, and use 6 and 7 items than can handle 5.

Gregg’s Reference Manual, favoured by many professionals in the plain language field, suggests the question of punctuation of the introductory material is important. It seems you only need a colon if the introductory material forms a complete sentence that you could punctuate with a period.

In this world, few people understand the differences, and will wonder why some lists are preceded by a colon and others are not. I throw a colon at all of them.

Use these formatting options to set lists off from text:
· spacing to establish a separate unit
· indentation, at the left only or both left and right
· numerical or alphabetic listing where you want to prioritize the items
· bullets or special characters where there is no priority
· double column format for long lists of short items

Kindly for "K"

noreply@blogger.com (Stephens) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 21:18:00 +0000

Be kind to others. Be considerate of your readers.

So when you write, take care to include all the dates, facts, and figures that the person may need to handle your query or request or instruction.

In business letters, include everybody's file reference numbers if you have them.

Give a quick summary of a letter or request that you are responding to.

Just don't force the other person to go searching for their file, records, or catalogue in order to deal with your letter.

The selfish benefit of this is that you are more likely to get an early response if you save your correspondent the time to sort this all out.

Humour at work, Workopolis

noreply@blogger.com (Stephens) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:01:00 +0000

Workopolis' Humour Classification Report:

This year Workopolis provides information about who is doing the joking
and how to do humour right this April Fool's Day.

- Sarcastic/witty jokester: This workplace comedian may appear to have
it easy with a punch line for every situation, but humour isn't
always the right solution. While it tends comes across as witty and
clever, if done too often or gone wrong, his humour can be perceived
as sarcastic. He isn't shy to add colour commentary in any and all
situations - in front of the boss, colleagues or whomever. And
because of the witty approach to his humour, he is confident in his
delivery and always gets a laugh.

- Workopolis' advice: Think before you joke. Evaluate the situation,
your audience and your injection of humour. Will it get a laugh
from most of the room? Will it take the meeting off strategy? Are
you interrupting and offending anyone? Keeping quiet could be the
best approach in serious situations, meetings or environments.

- Obnoxious or inappropriate joker: She's easy to identify since there
is often an uncomfortable silence that follows her humour. And she
doesn't hesitate to incorporate her humour into any situation. She
has a hard time differentiating between workplace humour and social
humour and often crosses the line with inappropriate language and
subject matters. Don't follow her lead this April Fool's Day!

- Workopolis' advice: You are still at work, and what may get a
laugh with your friends, isn't always appropriate with your
colleagues. Avoid topics that really don't lend themselves to
humour - anything you'd be afraid to say to your mother, doesn't
belong in the workplace either. Evaluate each situation and assess
the room before you open with a punch line. Your colleagues will
appreciate your humour more if you use it cautiously.

- Trying too hard to be funny jokester: He's often relying on humour to
get attention and lighten uncomfortable situations. He rarely hears
the laugh track after his punch line, but that only pushes him to try
harder. His comments and attempts at humour distract the audience
more than amuse. According to the Workopolis April Fool's Day poll,
only two per cent of Canadians believe humour should be used at work
to get attention or stand out from others. That means this approach
to workplace humour is in the minority and more people are
uncomfortable with your humour than approve.

- Workopolis' advice: You don't have to have the last word, and you
certainly don't need to make a comment every time you're in the
room. The more you say, the less funny you are, and the fewer
laughs you'll get. Try other techniques to earn respect from your
colleagues and save your humour for the right or best situation.
In this case, less is more.

- The Prankster: This joker often relies on physical practical jokes to
get a reaction from his colleagues. He is clever in his approach and
aims to trick people - whether turning to email sabotage, rearranging
office furniture, whoopee cushions or crank phone calls. Be weary of
this workplace comic.

- Workopolis' advice: April Fool's Day was made for you! Be sure you
know your audience well and understand the limitations of
workplace pranks. Before your prank, do your research and find out
if it's acceptable to pull a practical joke on the boss. Often
your humour involves tricking people one at a time, so make sure
your victims can handle your sense of humour.

- Putting it all on the line funny: This prankster goes a step beyond
"Trying too hard to be funny". She stops at nothing to get a laugh -
even at the expense of her career or colleagues. She often spends
more time crafting the right prank instead of focusing on her work.
She's willing to embarrass herself in front of room full of
colleagues to get attention. April Fool's Day is a dangerous day for
this workplace clown as she feels it's a no holds barred-type of day.

- Workopolis' advice: Re-evaluate your career - maybe you were more
suited for the life of a comedian? While work environments are
finding more room for humour, not all corporate cultures tolerate
yours. Understand what's acceptable and appropriate in your work
environment before you go too far. Tone it down and save up more
of your humour and pranks for outside of work social situations.

The rules of humour at work:

While each work environment has its own specific approach to humour and
pranks on the job, workopolis.com offers the following advice to those
planning a prank this April Fool's Day or any day of the year:

- Know your corporate culture: While there may not be a formal rule in
place, do your research first and find out how tolerant your
workplace is of practical jokes. If it's not widely accepted,
reconsider your plans for April 1st. If it is allowed, know your
boundaries.

- Know who's off limits: Though half of working Canadians report their
workplaces allow pranks, does that include the boss? Your manager?
Your subordinates? Recognize who has a sense of humour, who will
appreciate your humour and who you should avoid.

- Know how far you can go: It may be just a joke, but more importantly,
you're still at work and should use cautious judgement before you go
too far. Ask yourself if the prank was played on you, would you find
it funny? Can this prank only be tested on certain colleagues? If the
answer to either of these questions is no, reconsider your practical
joke.

- Know when the timing is right: Even if you work for an environment
that encourages humour and pranks, there is a time and a place for
everything. Consider: are your colleagues on deadline? Are there
clients or important guests in your office? Is it too tense and a
practical joke will push them over the edge? What kind of a message
will you send if it's your first day of work and you're the
originator of a workplace prank?

- Know what to do if you've gone too far: You may take every necessary
precaution to ensure humour is used appropriately at work, but it can
still backfire. First, find out where you went wrong - was the timing
off? Did you target the wrong person? If you offended someone
specifically, formally apologize.

"Just" for "J" Week

noreply@blogger.com (Stephens) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 05:01:00 +0000

Well, lucky for me that Seth Godin blogged about writing this week and gave me my inspiration. Here is his full post:

Sort of, just and Donald Trump

I noticed a little while ago that I was using the word "just" and the phrase "sort of" in my writing. All the time, in fact. In my last book, a search and replace removed more than 80 unnecessary 'justs'.

Just say it.

Don't hide behind waffling terms that don't mean anything.

On the other hand, as I passed the skating rink in New York with the Donald's name plastered all over it, I'm reminded of a new trend I'm seeing more of, which is the act of declaring whatever you're working on 'the best ever,' 'the best in the world,' etc.

Saying it doesn't make it so. In fact, it probably makes it unso.

Take the advice and cut out those extra words. Not just the waffling words but the insistent words like "very" as in "It was a very long time since he had called".

In fact, you should be able to go through your writing and cut it by at least 10%. When I edit the work of wordy professionals like lawyers, bureaucrats, and academics, I set myself a goal of reducing the word count by 30%.

"I" Is for Impact

noreply@blogger.com (Stephens) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 16:04:00 +0000

I missed doing the ABCs Wednesday posting because I was in Thunder Bay Ontario, engaged in a two-day training session. But here comes the "I" for impact.

The Nishnawbe-Aski Police Services invited the Literacy and Policing project to deliver our program on how low literacy, amongst victims, witnesses, and accused persons, impacts the criminal justice system.

This is an awareness program. But our own awareness was certainly raised by a video we viewed during preparation for the visit.

The Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service is 10 years old. I discovered in person that this police service is composed of informed, educated, well-trained people who care deeply about their work in community policing. They certainly taught us more than we were able to share with them.

Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service: A Sacred Calling is an 18 minute documentary short film portraying the deplorable working and living conditions of NAPS officers and detachments, resulting from an accumulation of severe provincial and federal funding shortages.

View the documentary from Nishnawbe Aski Nation web site. You will never regret having given your time.

Addition:
A nice bit of news coverage for our project: http://www.chroniclejournal.com/stories_local.php?id=99325

Blogging and Meetings. What is the connect?

noreply@blogger.com (Stephens) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 18:45:00 +0000

Blogging as a phenomena is old enough to have developed its own rules of behaviour.

Well, it is nice that some standards have developed, but I am not happy about all the expectations.

Let me digress.

About 10 years ago, I offered to help out a committee of a professional association I belonged to at the time. I said, I volunteer to do anything at all that you need done but do not ask me to attend meetings. Of course, I was asked to attend meetings. First it was about working out what needed to be done. But thereafter meeting attendance was an expectation of volunteering.

Everybody hates meetings. I researched this and prepared a workshop on how to have effective meetings. So I find it difficult to sit through a meeting that is dawdling, dragging, or imploding. Don't ask me to be there.

Back to blogging. I want to support other bloggers that I enjoy reading. But do not ask me to do the memes, the lists of 5 things that blah-blah, and so on. Do not ask me to take up your theme for the month.

Appreciate the fact that I am a subscriber and that I read you everyday--whether you know that or not.

So, for the record, I don't like the fact that you are not considered a member of the blogging community if you do not play along and meet the expectations of other bloggers. I am just trying to meet the needs of my own readers.

Haiku for the Week of "H"

noreply@blogger.com (Stephens) — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 01:22:00 +0000

A little poetry and a picture for your week-end enjoyment.

Wednesday ABCs: Higher Order Concerns

noreply@blogger.com (Stephens) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 23:35:00 +0000

Purdue University's Online Writing Lab offers a list of Higher Order Concerns to guide your writing work. These concerns resemble a list of plain language guidelines. They certainly help put into perspective the lower order concerns.

Basic Techniques for Building Rapport

noreply@blogger.com (Stephens) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 19:37:00 +0000

Dummies UK site (click on title) provides the article below, adapted from the book, Neurolinguistics for Dummies.

Seven quick ways to sharpen your rapport

For starters, try some immediate ways to begin building rapport:

* Take a genuine interest in getting to know what's important to the other person. Start to understand them rather than expecting them to understand you first.
* Pick up on the key words, favourite phrases and way of speaking that someone uses and build these subtly into your own conversation.
* Notice how someone likes to handle information. Do they like lots of details or just the big picture? As you speak, feed back information in this same portion size.
* Breathe in unison with them.
* Look out for the other person's intention — their underlying aim — rather than what they do or say. They may not always get it right, but expect their heart to lie in the right place.
* Adopt a similar stance to them in terms of your body language, gestures, voice tone and speed.
* Respect the other person's time, energy, favourite people and money. They will be important resources for them.

"G" is for Grammar

noreply@blogger.com (Stephens) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 17:58:00 +0000

Wonderful coincidence: My "G" day is also U.S. National Grammar Day!

Stuart Froman argues at In Search Of in favor of a National Clarity Day:

"Perfect grammar—whether written or spoken—never solves a problem (except the problem of imperfect grammar ). It doesn’t make a person more creative or a better thinker. It can’t turn a bad idea into a good one, or an unclear thought into a clear one. It doesn’t guarantee that we will be understood."

More for "F" Week

noreply@blogger.com (Stephens) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 06:08:00 +0000

from the blog
The Party of the First Part
Word of the Week

By Adam Freedman

Fighting Words Doctrine

The First Amendment doctrine that holds that certain utterances are not constitutionally protected as free speech if they are "inherently likely to provoke a violent response from the audience" (Black's). Besides which, it's horrible manners.

Framing Your Message

noreply@blogger.com (Stephens) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 17:16:00 +0000

Framing Your Message
Help your reader get the picture...

Make your communication more effective but paying attention to more than vocabulary and grammar.

By filtering out distractions and barriers to effective communication, some writing techniques ensure that your message is received as sent. Plain language process also produces content that is easily accessed. One way this can be assured is framing your message.

In-text message framing uses word or phrase "frames" that situate your message in a context as an aid to comprehension. Framing creates a structure or framework to hang your message on. A good frame is the underpinning that helps your message get built and stay built. Words or strings of words that are used to define, repeat or reinforce your message are called in-text framing... Read the full article

"F" is for links

noreply@blogger.com (Stephens) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 14:56:00 +0000

F is for lazy? Here a some links.

Foreign

"The language of law must not be foreign to the ears of those who are to obey it."

- Judge Learned Hand

thanks to the legal writing prof

Feedback

Feedback technique: Stop, Start, Continue

from Genuine Curiosity

Giving & Receiving Feedback

from Leadership for Lawyers

Employee Engagement

noreply@blogger.com (Stephens) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 18:57:00 +0000

Another "E" post before the week is gone... I want to share this post from David Zinger--mostly for the poem by Moshe Safdie!

Employee Engagement Extra: Making Projects Unique

By David Zinger on Employee Engagement

Welcome to the Employee Engagement Extra.

I encourage you to watch Moshe Safdie talk about what makes a building unique. I encourage you to think through Mr. Safdie’s experience with buildings for the employee engagement you may be working at building in your organization. View the 17 minute video by clicking on the screen below or by clicking here to go to the TED Site.

Mr. Safdie concludes the video with the following poem he wrote:

He who seeks truth shall find beauty
He who seeks beauty shall find vanity
He who seeks order shall find gratification
He who seeks gratification shall be disappointed
He who considers himself a servant of his fellow beings shall find the joy of self expression
He who seeks self expression shall fall into the pit of arrogance
Arrogance is incompatible with nature
Through nature the nature of the universe and the nature of man we shall seek truth
If we seek truth we shall find beauty
~ Moshe Safdie

E is for efficient, effective, economical writing

noreply@blogger.com (Stephens) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 18:26:00 +0000

Plain language techniques can help you get the message through efficiently and effectively. It takes effort but it’s worth it.

Poorly written documents contribute to inefficiencies, management problems, higher administrative costs, and poor public relations. Clear communication gives you a positive image as efficient, responsive, and friendly. Isn't that how you want your clients to see you?

Improving your writing saves both time and money. Think of the time spent writing and editing. And the time wasted correcting misunderstandings. Imagine the gains to be achieved by making your written material more efficient and effective.

One of my clients prized brevity above all and insisted that all staff memos be limited to one page. But sometimes clarity requires more text or more space, and clarity is what we are really after.

A few weeks ago, Kenneth W. Davis put it this way:

Be economical

Some trainers and textbooks talk about conciseness or brevity. I prefer the word economy. It suggests dollars, pounds, and euros, and reminds us that business is about money. As someone once said, in the game of business, money is how we keep score.

This week, as you revise your drafts, look for ways to save money, especially by making smaller demands on your readers' time.

D is for drafting, legal drafting

noreply@blogger.com (Stephens) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 19:07:00 +0000

What is legal drafting? It involves writing that deals with rights and responsibilities in the form of contracts, deeds, and such. Legislative drafting is a segment of it that deals with writing laws.

Wayne Schiess, on his blog in 2005, said legal drafting is an independent area of expertise [http://www.utexas.edu/law/faculty/wschiess/legalwriting/2005/10/you-must-actually-study-legal-drafting.html]. To show that you need more than a law degree, he offered this little quiz.

How much do you really know about legal drafting? Here's a short quiz:

Name a text on legal drafting.
What is the proper legal-drafting definition of shall?
What is the difference between writing "such activities" and "those activities"?
Why do drafters write "Four Hundred and no 100s dollars ($400.00)" and do they need to double-up that way?
Explain the drafting problem in this sentence: "The rule applies to associations and corporations with offices in Texas."

I can answer these questions; and I used to teach legal drafting a decade ago. But I don't do it alone any more. Now I only team teach drafting with a practicing lawyer in the area of law concerned. Because the nuances of legal drafting change with the substrata of the governing law in a legal practice area.

I have worked as a consultant with a law firm to produce plain language contracts and so on. But I wish the firms would take this on directly--producing client documentation in plain legal language. It involves too much back-and-forth negotiation over words and grammar and stops being fun for me.

Do you know a law firm that works with plain legal language?