Search Results for: Plain language
Do you understand your rights? Making the Letters of Rights more accessible
Published in the Clarity Journal 81 – 2020 Introduction Lili Krámer, Zsófia Moldova, and Vera Gergely The Letter of Rights is a text that informs suspects of their fundamental rights (such as the right to remain silent or the right to have a lawyer). If you are suspected of something the police will either read […]
Usability testing results for legal icons Northwest Justice Project – a case study
Published in The Clarity Journal 82 – 2020. Background Northwest Justice Project (NJP) and the Superior Court of Washington have long relied on plain language and readable design to support people who want access to legal forms and information, but do not have lawyers. In 2018, NJP asked Transcend to create 6 new legal icons […]
Recent developments in contract drafting techniques
Published in The Clarity Journal 73 – 2015 There is an ever-increasing need and demand from the public for information that is accessible, transparent, and easy to understand. When we view contracts as working documents—binding guides to action rather than legal records, we write to engage people to read and understand them, improve commercial relationships, […]
Drafting from scratch — three versions
Published in The Clarity Journal 54 – 2005 Introduction As part of the conference on “Clarity and Obscurity in Legal Language” in Boulogne, we organized two panels of expert drafters — two master classes. We thought it would be interesting and instructive to see how different experts approached the same drafting assignment. In this issue, […]
Notice me – communicating patient privacy rights through effective notices
Published in The Clarity Journal 75 – 2017 Penelope Hughes and Maya Frazier Privacy plays a vital role in society, and the concept of health information privacy has persisted for a particularly long time, with providers’ obligation to protect the privacy of their patients dating back to the Oath of Hippocrates. Even in today’s world, […]
You think lawyers are good drafters?
Published in The Clarity Journal 73 – 2015 By Joseph Kimble No, I’m sorry, but most lawyers are not skilled drafters. It doesn’t matter how smart or experienced they are or how many legal documents they have drafted. Most — a supermajority, probably — are lacking. And yet, oddly enough, while they tend to be […]