LEGL 1205 Notes
Plain language – clear and understandable, as simple as possible. Plain legal language should be
effective to your audience. Aim is to be understood.
Benefits: clear writing means clear thinking, which will bring confidence in writing.
- Must consider readers’ cultural context, vocabulary and expectations
- Accepted as the best practice in modern writing
Respectful language – personal characteristics should not be mentioned
- Inclusive language: does not stereotype or demean ppl based on personal
characteristics ; avoid mentioning personal characteristics
- Personal first construction: people ahead of personal characteristics
- Guidelines :
- Potential issues may arise to groups such as people who are lesbian, gay , bisexual or
transgender, aboriginal descent, adoptive families , people of diverse races, ethnicities
or countries of oigin etc.
Gender neutral language – avoiding gender-specific terminology, use plural, specifically be
mindful of:
- False generics: ex. “man” as it has the meaning of “male persons” other than just
“human being”
- Parallel Treatment: ex. “man and woman” instead of “man and wife”
- Stereotypes: avoid biased terms or offensive terms, avoid gendered adjectives (ex.
Woman lawyer)
Speaking Effectively
- Communication skills – use the 7c’s of communication: clear, correct, complete,
concrete, concise, consideration, and courteous,
o Clear : msg should be clear and easily understandable to recipient
o Correct: msg should be correct, no grammatical error
o Complete: must include all relevant information
o Concrete: no room for misinterpretation
o Concise: avoid lengthy msg
o Consideration: considerate of audience’s opinions, knowledge, mindset etc
o Courteous: consideration of feelings and viewpoints of audience
- Applies to both written and oral communication
Plain language – clear and understandable, as simple as possible. Plain legal language should be
effective to your audience. Aim is to be understood.
Benefits: clear writing means clear thinking, which will bring confidence in writing.
- Must consider readers’ cultural context, vocabulary and expectations
- Accepted as the best practice in modern writing
Respectful language – personal characteristics should not be mentioned
- Inclusive language: does not stereotype or demean ppl based on personal
characteristics ; avoid mentioning personal characteristics
- Personal first construction: people ahead of personal characteristics
- Guidelines :
- Potential issues may arise to groups such as people who are lesbian, gay , bisexual or
transgender, aboriginal descent, adoptive families , people of diverse races, ethnicities
or countries of oigin etc.
Gender neutral language – avoiding gender-specific terminology, use plural, specifically be
mindful of:
- False generics: ex. “man” as it has the meaning of “male persons” other than just
“human being”
- Parallel Treatment: ex. “man and woman” instead of “man and wife”
- Stereotypes: avoid biased terms or offensive terms, avoid gendered adjectives (ex.
Woman lawyer)
Speaking Effectively
- Communication skills – use the 7c’s of communication: clear, correct, complete,
concrete, concise, consideration, and courteous,
o Clear : msg should be clear and easily understandable to recipient
o Correct: msg should be correct, no grammatical error
o Complete: must include all relevant information
o Concrete: no room for misinterpretation
o Concise: avoid lengthy msg
o Consideration: considerate of audience’s opinions, knowledge, mindset etc
o Courteous: consideration of feelings and viewpoints of audience
- Applies to both written and oral communication
