Cooley Law School’s Kimble Center for Legal Drafting to co-host clear legal writing seminar

Cooley Law School’s Kimble Center for Legal Drafting, in partnership with Clarity International, will host a webinar, “Clear Legal Writing: New Cases, Resources, and Technology,” on Nov. 14. 

The webinar will be held from noon to 1:30 p.m. (ET). 

Cooley Distinguished Professor Emeritus Joseph Kimble, Cooley Prof. Mark Cooney, and attorney Ivy Grey will be the speakers.

Kimble will present, “Dipping into a new, FREE Book on Legal Drafting,” highlighting portions of his new book with co-author Bryan Garner, “Essentials for Drafting Clear Legal Rules.” 

The techniques outlined in their book, many of which are not widely known, are applicable to any type of legal drafting. The book is free and available online at Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

Cooney will speak about “How Legalese Jeopardizes Enforceability: New Court Cases,” discussing recent cases in which courts refused to enforce documents bogged down by legalese and poor design. 

The cases show that lawyers who think they’re playing it safe by recycling traditional legal forms are doing just the opposite: they’re taking on unnecessary risk.

“When attorneys present cases loaded with legal jargon, they are really doing a disservice to themselves in the courtroom,” said Cooney. “Judges are swamped. They don’t have time to sift through cases cluttered with legal ambiguity and thoroughly review and understand them. Serving judges with clear and concise information – in plain language – will only strengthen your case to your advantage.”

Grey is the creator of American Legal Style for PerfectIt, a proofreading software. 

She will focus on “Connecting Technology Training and Substantive Legal-Writing Skills,” providing a clearer view of generative AI’s potential – and limitations – for tomorrow’s legal writers, while sharing insights on other technologies and strategies for producing clear, forceful language.

Registration may be completed through Webex.

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