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Our biannual journal, The Clarity Journal, is the leading source of plain language news and research from across the globe. The journal features the latest plain language research, practical advice, before-and-after examples, success stories, campaign strategies and much more.

The Clarity Journal is distributed free to members, keeping you up-to-date and informed of changes and trends in plain language and clear communication.

Contact our Editor-in-Chief at editor@clarity-international.org for advertising, article submissions and enquiries.

The Clarity Journal 66 November 2011
In this issue :
1. The role of plain language in the writing training of law students
2. Public power: putting the case for the lay reader
3. Working with lawyers on your projects
4. The design and implementation of a plain Spanish writing-skills programme for Argentina’s leading law firm
5. Teaching judgment writing in Canada
6. A most dangerous clause: Plain language prevents legal malpractice in software licensing
7. Nova Scotia regulations drafting: a collaboration that works well
8. Developing legal rights information: Collaborating with external legal advisors
9. A ‘four minds’ approach to editing creates clarity
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The Clarity Journal 65 May 2011
In this issue :
1. Clarity 2010 opening welcome: closing farewell
2. Transparency—an idea whose time has come
3. Holding visual space for clarity and connection
4. The European Commission’s clear writing campaign
5. Japan’s project to simplify courtroom language
6. Clarity: an empathic journey towards understanding
7. World of Warcraft terms of service
8. Gautrain—not plain!
9. Gibson Sheat lawyers’ standard terms of engagement
10. Test, redesign, and retest of Chase credit card agreement
11. Communicating contracts: when text alone is not enough
12. Prescriptive laws make bad election design
13. SIMPLEGIS and clear legal language in Portugal
14. Information about medicines: legal and visual arguments
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The Clarity Journal 64 November 2010
In this issue :
1. Defining plain language
2. Setting plain language standards
3. Training for plain language
4. Grounding plain language in research
5. Advocating plain language
6. Certifying plain language
7. Strengthening plain language institutions
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The Clarity Journal 63 May 2010
In this issue :
1. Writing Smaller
2. Plain Language in Plain English, Chapter 8: Identify the purposes of the document
3. Simplifying frequent overlooked customer touchpoints
4. How to conduct readability research according to the standards of professional market and social research
5. Five tips on writing to a judge
6. The research basis of plain language techniques: Implications for establishing standards
7. Two drafting examples from the proposed new Federal Rules of Evidence
8. Multilayering in plain language texts
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The Clarity Journal 62 November 2009
In this issue :
1. Opening address
2. Ensnaring perceptions on communication: Underlying obstacles to lawyers writing plainly
3. The credit crisis has its roots in Main Street not Wall Street
4. Plain language and financial transparency: What you don’t understand can cost (or make) you money
5. Making the business case for plain English
6. Plain words
7. Righting the wrongs of rewriting
8. Keynote address : International trends in English style and usage
9. Laws set the framework for plain language in South Africa
10. Assessing the usability of credit card disclosures
11. Developing plain language multilingual information about the law
12. Closing address – Plain concord: Clarity’s ten commandments
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The Clarity Journal 61 May 2009
In this issue :
1. SIMPLE LAW: laws in citizen-friendly language: a program implemented by Chile’s National Library of Congress
2. From plain language to business language
3. Opening ceremony remarks for Clarity’s third international conference
4. Legal language and the technique for legislation drafting in Mexico: an unresolved matter
5. What our Constitution has to learn from religion
6. Plain English for Spanish-speaking lawyers: specific language based issues
7. Paths that meet: the plain language network
8. The journey of Citizen language
9. Leaving legalese behind
10. Defining the profession: placing plain language in the field of communication
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The Clarity Journal 60 November 2008
In this issue :
1. Plain language—(literally) halfway around the world from Cincinnati
2. Construction contract administration— an approach on clarity
3. ‘And yet it moves’: recent developments in plain legal English in the UK
4. Stepping stones to plain English
5. An arbitration agreement designed not to be read, written not to be understood
6. The Texas pattern jury charges plain-language project: the writing consultant’s view
7. Further thoughts on letters of advice
8. The good lecture and the good paper
9. Linguistic lingo for lawyers—linking verbs
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The Clarity Journal 59 May 2008
In this issue :
1. The building blocks on Wessel’s website: the Amsterdam challenge
2. Setting the standard: some steps toward a plain language profession
3. Strong, cautious support: Clarity’s position on standards and accreditation
4. International plain language standards— the view from the Center for Plain Language
5. Writing by numbers: are readability formulas to clarity what karaoke is to song?
6. Some thoughts on standards
7. Towards a plain lingua franca for India
8. Getting a grip on plain language
9. The Dutch Constitution in plain language
10. Plain Portuguese, the new member of the plain language family
11. Clear language: the municipal challenge
12. Best practices: key features of the City’s new staff report design
13. Plain-language changes to the City of Toronto’s procedures by law
14. 2 continents + 2 approaches + 1 vision = effective government communication
15. Tools and techniques for working with subject matter experts to create plain language manuals
16. A national organization of physicians embraces plain language: a case study and what we learned
17. Certified plain-language consultants already exist in Sweden
18. Linguistic lingo for lawyers—word classes
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The Clarity Journal 58 November 2007
In this issue :
1. Measuring plain language at the British Columbia Securities Commission
2. Plain language in financial correspondence: bridging the consumer-to-customer gap
3. Lord Renton 1908–2007
4. What makes a document readable?
5. Learning about plain language through a community development project on adult literacy
6. Keeping errors in Czech
7. Drafting matters—letters of advice
8. Tips from a unique provider of South African legal research
9. Book review—Informed choices with a capital ‘G’
10. Book review—Indlish
11. Linguistic lingo for lawyers— personal pronouns and gender: a dialogue
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The Clarity Journal 57 May 2007
In this issue :
1. Opening speech at the conference for the launch of New Zealand’s WriteMark plain English awards
2. Judicial attitudes to plain language and the law
3. Clarity member receives the Burton Award
4. Lord David Renton
5. Introductory editorial for the seminar in print
6. Linguistic nasties and niceties: Who should we pander to? Or to whom should we pander?
7. A rant in favour of empathy and against relativism: the impact of grammar, punctuation and usage on clarity
8. House style—whose style is it?
9. Editing judgments: lessons learned in law reporting
10. The continuing insult to the language
11. Punctuation
12. Letter to the editor
13. Improving our writing by understanding how people read personally addressed household mail
14. A redrafting exercise
15. Clarity for Lawyers—Effective Legal Writing
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