Clarity and conciseness in legal documents are two vital qualities. To meet this standard, lawyers must ensure they use the appropriate word: who or whom?
Though occasional grammar and style errors do not diminish the persuasive power of a document, attorneys should strive to adhere to logical and conventional language rules.
Subject and Object Pronouns
Legal writing often uses pronouns that are confusing if their roles aren’t completely understood; some pronouns serve as subject or object pronouns while others can serve both functions.
Pronouns serve as subjects when they replace nouns that have already been mentioned, known as an antecedent, in a sentence. An antecedent usually comes before the pronoun in question and serves as its counterpart.
Subjects in sentences can also have indirect objects, which is defined as nouns that receive direct objects as their direct object(s). To identify an indirect object from within a direct object (for instance: who received George’s letter? or “George sent this letter to whom?”), for instance: who or what received George’s letter would make more sense.
Conciseness
Legal writing must be clear and succinct. Eliminating unnecessary words and phrases makes a statement more impactful, while reading legal writing more easily increases its chance of being understood and implemented.
Wordiness in legal writing refers to an over-use of words within sentences or paragraphs, leading to unclear statements and confusion over an argument. Wordiness may arise due to filler words, redundant phrases and unnecessary transition words such as moreover, additionally, henceforth and heretofore chopping up paragraphs by providing extra verbiage without adding to its message.
Wordiness often results from qualifiers. These auxiliary words serve to enhance or diminish the impact of other words and may weaken a sentence’s impact, make the writer appear less credible, and decrease clarity of writing. Try replacing overused words with stronger alternatives that offer greater power.
Persuasive Argumentation
Legal writing demands persuasive arguments to convince readers of your position. Analogies and metaphors are effective methods of communicating complex legal concepts clearly to readers while narrative structure makes your argument more relatable for a greater impact.
One of the key aspects of effective legal writing is anticipating and responding to opposing viewpoints. By acknowledging and refuting them, you can demonstrate a comprehensive knowledge of your topic at hand.
Citing relevant authorities to substantiate your claims further strengthens the credibility of your arguments. Different forms of authority carry different weight, with binding primary sources like constitutions, statutes and court rulings carrying more weight than secondary authorities such as academic articles or law review journals – these should only be used sparingly as they don’t carry as much clout in arguments.
Target Audience
Legal writing is a specialized form of communication which must take into account the needs and concerns of its target audience, such as clarity, conciseness, persuasive arguments, logical organization, attention to detail as well as proper citation of sources and ethical considerations.
Additionally, it is crucial that legal documents reflect their audience by using clear and familiar language and avoiding jargon or technical terms that could confuse readers.
ProWritingAid can assist in making sure the appropriate pronouns are being used in each sentence, making your legal documents more professional and effective in reaching their intended goal. While some English speakers might use whom instead of who to sound more formal or sophisticated, this should be avoided when legal writing. Using an online grammar checker such as ProWritingAid will ensure the appropriate pronoun is always being utilized – including any instances when who was used when whom should have been. This ensures your documents meet their intended goal more quickly and professionally while helping make them more professional than ever!