How Legal Drafting is Important for Newly Enrolled Advocates?

The motto of the legal profession is “verba volant, scripta manent,” which means “spoken words fly away, written words endure!”

For a law student, lawyer, or judge, drafting and legal writing abilities aren’t essential. Have you seen the grammatical error in the sentence? Even the tiniest typo can completely affect the meaning of a statement, and an error in a legal document might lose a client their case.

“Drafting is one of the most cognitively demanding of all lawyering abilities,” Haggard has observed. It necessitates legal knowledge, the capacity to cope with abstract concepts, investigative instincts, a high level of foresight, and organizational abilities.”

The ability to design legal documents begins with a good mastery of the language. A lawyer’s statements must be strung together like pearls! Legal papers that are perfect and error-free help a lawyer win half of the cases.

A well-written document is the equivalent of a persuasive argument, and it may make or break a case! Whether it’s a contract, a written declaration, or an affidavit, a legal document has two purposes: it informs and engages both the client and the court in the legal problem. Lawyers and judges must create all legal papers with accuracy, accurately depicting all key facts and engaging a layperson in the subject.

What Does Legal Drafting Entail?

Legal drafting is a way of producing legal documents that follow the law and includes legal terminology that is appropriate for the document and the circumstances in which it will be used, whether they be court filings or employment contracts. Legal drafting is used in the following situations by those in the field:

1. Composing legal wording for a legally binding contract. The words you submit will define the relevant parties’ rights and duties.

2. Putting together any legal document, such as a legal letter or a court motion.

3. Being a part of a legal transaction, which might include not just legal papers but also negotiation, client representation, and more.

What is the significance of legal drafting?

Legal drafting is vital because it ensures that legal papers are formatted appropriately, that all parties involved are satisfied with the specifics of the document, that jargon is clarified, and that everything you’ll be submitting before the court or another governing body is properly set out. A legal document should state its purpose, be understandable to all parties, and be written in such a way that it is legally enforceable and acceptable to a court.

Even a little inaccuracy in a legal draught can have a significant impact on the document’s meaning and long-term ramifications, especially if the document is signed and executed and must be followed by all parties moving forward. A well-written document may make a significant difference in helping an attorney win cases in court or avoiding long workplace mediations over a contract disagreement.

Drafting Legal Documents

When preparing legal documents, an attorney should:

Consider the receiver while writing.

Depending on whether the document is ultimately meant for a court or a layman with little legal understanding of who is signing a contract, the wording and amount of legalese in the document may change. The person who writes the legal document should be able to deliver a final result that is free of ambiguity and allows the receiver to comprehend what they are reading.

Make your language simple.

Even though a legal document has negative issues by definition, a legal draught can avoid using offensive or negative language that may be misinterpreted by the end-user. Instead, use plain language that educates, informs, and immediately tackles the problem at hand without being biased or appearing hostile to the document receiver.

If at all possible, avoid templates.

While certain templates might be beneficial, it’s best to construct a document from scratch whenever possible to avoid the risk of plagiarism or having elements in the document that are wrong or unverifiable. When you avoid using templates completely or merely use them as a reference for your own paper, you free up time to research legislation and other particular terminology that must be included in your document to make it as authentic and truthful as possible.

Perform legal research.

Even if you believe you know a lot about certain legislation or the decision of a comparable case you’re referring in your essay, you should still complete your study. You don’t want any incorrect information in your paper, and you certainly don’t want to rely on your recollection. Legal research will also ensure that your paper has vital and relevant background information that will assist set the tone for the rest of the text.

The document should be well organized.

The structure of a document is determined by what it is and who will need to see or utilize it in the end. Although all legal papers should be organized in a logical manner, various rules apply to different receivers. A federal court, for example, may demand that a complaint be written in a precise language and structure, yet a contract lawyer may be able to structure their contracts in a way that only makes sense to the contract’s specified parties.

Resources for Legal Drafting

Even very experienced attorneys who have been creating legal papers for a long time may benefit from using resources to assist them in the preparation of legal documents. Here are a few examples of available resources:

Legal dictionaries:

Being able to grasp legal terminology a bit better would make legal drafting a lot easier. A legal dictionary might be useful in this situation. It contains information on the terminology used by attorneys, judges, legal experts, and anybody else who may be involved in court proceedings. You won’t be able to build as effective a legal draught if you don’t have a fundamental understanding of how folks in the legal sector communicate.

Writing manuals:

Everyone needs to start somewhere when it comes to legal writing. Writing guides have been prepared by academics and other specialists in the subject that you may use as a guide for your own writings. These writing guides include legal style as well as several how-tos, such as how to examine sources and do research prior to writing, how to format documents, how to create good briefs, and how to revise your work. These may be a valuable resource for those who are new to the legal area, while more experienced writers can utilise them to improve their writing.

Federal and state norms of procedure:

Law is organised by its very nature, thus it should come as no surprise that there are certain methods to style legal papers and record legal citations when writing to the court. Rules of procedure exist at the federal, state, and even municipal levels, and knowing them may make your legal writing process go much more smoothly.

Style guides for citations:

There are style manuals dedicated specifically to this. Citation style guidelines are an important aspect of producing court papers because of the many different methods to write them. Different citation preferences exist depending on which court will receive the document. Citation guides can help you follow precise standards for this section of your text.

Conclusion

Legal drafting is crucial because it guarantees that the legal document is appropriately organized. A well-written document explains its aim and application clearly. Drafting abilities include not just the capacity to write clear papers but also the ability to explain the legal document’s intent to a layperson. The motto of the legal profession is “verba volant, scripta manent,” which means “spoken words fly away, written words endure!”

The ability to design legal documents begins with a good mastery of the language. A lawyer’s statements must be strung together like pearls! Legal papers that are perfect and error-free help a lawyer win half of the cases.

A well-written document is the equivalent of a persuasive argument, and it may make or break a case! Whether it’s a contract, a written declaration, or an affidavit, a legal document has two purposes: it informs and engages both the client and the court in the legal problem. Lawyers and judges must create all legal papers with accuracy, accurately depicting all key facts and engaging a layperson in the subject.

We hope that this article helped you In some way or another! For more such information, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Telegram, or simply subscribe to our newsletter.

DOWNLOAD OUR FREE LEGAL MAGAZINE – LAW MANTHAN 1ST EDITION

(MARCH – APRIL)