ABSTRACT
This chapter is about different types of legal writing. The first part introduces the topic. The second part focuses on writing short emails, looking at different ways of starting and ending emails, different levels of formality, and the content of a short email. The third part looks at five key skills for legal writing: planning and organising your content, helping your reader navigate your document, improving your sentences, using plain English, and reviewing your writing. It includes exercises on writing an email of advice to a client and a memorandum.
By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
write a short email to a client, colleague, or another lawyer, using the appropriate level of formality
plan and organise the content of longer emails or legal documents
use techniques to help your reader easily find the information they need
write clearly and concisely by improving your sentence structure
understand plain English alternatives to legalese
