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Attorneys are held to a high standard in all aspects of their work and responsibilities. This is important to maintain the standards of a respected profession, and it is required by the American Bar Association’s Rules of Professional Conduct. As per Rule 1.1, “competent representation requires… thoroughness and preparation reasonably necessary,” for the proper representation of clients. This is true down to the words, phrases and punctuation used to advocate for clients.
Drafting errors and mistakes can be distracting, and in the most egregious circumstances, they can actually derail a case. Even simple drafting mistakes pose a risk to a lawyer’s reputation. Catch your drafting mistakes, whether they are grammatical or stylistic before they derail your case by paying attention to the fine details and proofreading your work carefully before every submission. Don’t hesitate to use the technological tools at your disposal to help ensure that your filings are perfect before they are submitted to the court.
Writing mistakes can easily make someone appear lazy, unprepared or poor at time management. Mistakes can also lead to harmful results for your clients. For example, an error in legal drafting on a contract or a settlement agreement can limit your clients’ opportunities in an irreversible way.
The key to effective contract drafting is to memorialize a transaction in understandable and complete terms. A contract error can lead to misunderstandings and disputes about a contract’s terms, conditions and parties. Ambiguous phrases with potentially alternative meanings, especially ones that are adverse to your client, can be a grave mistake in drafting for contract law.
Contracts are unique to certain parties for specific circumstances. Therefore, a contract error can be difficult to spot. Still, a mistake in a contract can have detrimental effects on your client, their business and their future business relationships.
When drafting legal terms, don’t take anything for granted. To perfect your legal writing, be sure to use the following legal drafting skills:
Consistently practicing good legal drafting skills will pay off by preventing embarrassment when communicating with clients and the court. Save your credibility by taking the extra time necessary to avoid mistakes.
Using a drafting tool like Lexis® for Microsoft® Office is a great complementary resource to enhance your legal drafting skills and minimize the likelihood of error. This is especially true with respect to mistakes that often find their way into contracts. Lexis for Microsoft Office allows you to integrate your drafting and research into a single workable format and improve your document accuracy. Overall, this is a great way to increase your efficiency and accuracy while decreasing time spent on drafting and research.