CBA Record July-August 2024

l Legal documents for legal readers. Judges and lawyers prefer plain language. Kimble summarizes four empirical studies of judges and lawyers reading legal documents. In all the stud ies, readers strongly preferred plain language. In three studies, judges chose plain language samples 61% to 67% of the time. In a study of nearly 1,500 judges and lawyers asked to choose between a plain language and traditional legal-style passage, over 80% chose the plain language sample. Kimble calls this “solid proof” legal readers prefer plain language. (Remember this when writing to the court.) l General public. In another study, nonlawyers were shown vari ous legal passages—one in plain language, another in legalese. Examples: (1) I have signed and enclosed the stipulation to dismiss your case. (2) I am herewith returning the stipulation to dismiss your case; the same being duly executed by me. Of 1,000 people surveyed, readers overwhelmingly chose the plain language options. (Think about this study when you write to clients.) l Internal business documents. Australian Mutual Provident insurance company rewrote an office manual for an insurance product. The new manual used plain language. Employees who read the plain language manual answered 6.6 out of 10 questions about the insurance product correctly. Employees using the old manual got only 3.2 out of 10 questions correct. (This study may help convince clients to use plain language in employee handbooks or other documents you may review.) Kimble’s Second Edition is twice as nice. Follow his guidelines for plain language. Readers will understand your writing, and your clients may save a lot of money. Highly recommended.

manuals or other documents. In addition to the legal review, we owe it to clients to let them know plain language can result in better understanding and compliance. If clients question you, point to a few of the 60 empirical studies backing up Kimble’s claims. For example: l General Electric Information Services developed clearly writ ten, plain language software manuals. Customers who used an earlier version of the manual made about 125 more calls a month than customers who used the new manual. The com pany estimated it saves between $22,500-$375,000 per year for each customer using the plain language manual. l A document team at Sabre Travel Network developed a short, clear manual to help travel agencies install and use its software. The new booklet reduced the number of calls to the help desk – the main goal – by 70%. The company saved $2,425,500. Kimble points to two themes in the empirical studies saving money: “(1) a small savings on a single act produces huge num bers when that same act is performed repeatedly on a high-vol ume document; and (2) an investment in plain language will repay itself many times over.” Pleasing and Persuading Readers Simply put, readers strongly prefer plain language over tradi tional legal style. Those readers may be judges, other lawyers, or the public. Kimble writes, “We have empirically tested… this question of reader preferences and comprehension…[Anyone] who can influence public communication needs to know about this body of evidence.”

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