What ever happened to those folks who graduated in 2020 anyway? How do you start a career when the whole world is closed? Kyle Morse did just that, landing a role as an editor for a healthcare consulting firm. He quickly found that the world had been lying about the "uselessness" of his English degree, and rose through the ranks to become a proposal manager. He shared with us what he does, and why great writing still matters.

What is your background and how did you get involved in government proposal writing?

In May 2020, during the peak of Covid, I graduated with a BA in English with an emphasis in Technical Communication and Information Design. The pandemic sharpened my angst about entering the workforce with a depreciating degree while a tech revolution loomed on the horizon. Washington, D.C. was a long way away from my Colorado home, and government contracting wasn’t even on my radar.

Not everyone can teach. Senior partners may be expert legal writers, but it doesn't mean they all have the time, patience, or skill to help associates learn their craft. That's where legal writing coaches and trainers like Lisa Pearl come in. She talks about her writing and teaching process below.

Tech tools, especially AI tools are a hot topic in the legal writing field, and a lot of legal writers are anxious about what they mean for the future. Not associate attorney and legal writer Neven Selimovic: he believes in earning and using every tool he can to bring clients the best possible outcome. He shares his strategies and philosophy in this interview. 

What makes good legal writing? Clarity and simplicity! Attorney and legal writing coach Chinua Asuzu practices what he teaches. Even in this legal writing interview, he uses visual clues like lists and bullet points to make his meaning easy to read and understand. He shares his best practices with us.

Does your firm have a dedicated legal writing team? If you have the resources, it might be worth considering! Brendan M. Kenny from Hellmuth & Johnson works as a litigator himself, and as a legal writer for other members of the practice. This gives him and his colleagues in the legal writing group the opportunity to explore and perfect the use of new technologies to support their writing. He shared his experience with us in this expert interview:

Not everyone feels confident in their writing, or has time to tackle every brief themself. Some attorneys turn to AI sources to help in those moments, but with more firms making rules about whether and how AI can be used in practice, that’s not always an option. That’s where legal ghostwriters like Matt Sullivan come in. He shared some of his professional experience with us.

Legal writing is at a crossroads. When ChatGPT passed the bar exam, it became impossible to ignore the possibilities that generative AI holds for legal writers. Professor Kirsten K. Davis spent her 2023 sabbatical exploring AI technology, and now teaches law students how to use it effectively in their writing practice. She shared some of her insights in her legal writing interview:

After years of teaching legal writing courses, Gary Kinder noticed a pattern in the mistakes people were making. Once he noticed, he knew there had to be a way to make editing for clarity and brevity quicker and easier, freeing writers up to do more detail oriented editing. We asked him about how he came to create WordRake, and he shared the story with us.

What is your role and how did you get to where you are today?

After law school, I did not want to practice just yet. I passed the Florida bar, briefly taught Legal Writing at the University of Florida, then headed West to see snow. I worked as a bellman in the Sun Valley Lodge, tried cases one day a week as the county’s assistant prosecutor, and sold my first article to a national magazine. One cold January night, while working the front door of the Lodge, I met the wife of a famous novelist, who introduced me to her husband, who introduced me to a New York agent, who turned me over to his son, who was just beginning his career representing authors. He sold my first book to a New York publisher, and he is still my literary agent.

Law is a high stress field. Lawyers finish school and descend into a meatgrinder in legal practice. The fast pace, high stakes, and need for perfection can overwhelm even the most skilled attorney. When clients are depending on you, every word counts. So how can a legal writer balance their responsibilities and their basic wellbeing? Attorney, author, and blogger Claire E. Parsons has faced these challenges head on, and has advice for other lawyers about their writing and their wellness.

What is your role and how did you get to where you are today?

I feel fortunate to have multiple roles at this stage of my career. I am as surprised by this as I am pleased about it. For my law practice, I am Of Counsel at Bricker Graydon in the Cincinnati area. I have been practicing for 15 years in the areas of school law, employment law, and litigation. I started in a smaller insurance defense firm with a strong focus on local government work. Though I started in civil litigation, I soon was asked to learn special education to meet client needs. I did that and quickly became known for my work and then moved more into general school law. I am fairly new at my current firm but I was drawn to the firm’s strong public sector and school law presence.

The legal writing landscape evolves constantly, and lawyers and law professors alike must keep up. It's not just riding the wave of technological and linguist advancement, however. Professors like Susan Tanner of UofL Brandeis School of Law are shaping the future of legal writing. She shared her hopes for that future with us in the second half of her legal writing interview.

How would you like to see legal writing change in the next 10 years?

I’d like to see it get easier.

Those unfamiliar with the law might imagine it to be very black and white--but legal writing experts like Professor Susan Tanner know that legal practice is about holding tension between truths. In this first part of her legal writing interview, Professor Tanner addresses learning to write well while balancing the needs of clients and the court.

What's scarier to an experienced lawyer, a wall of indecipherable legal jargon and Latin-derived gobbledygook, or a brief written in clear, plain language? While the average layperson may be more afraid of the unreadable block of text, Professor Mark Cooney has learned that a succinct, clearly worded document is much more threatening. 

Legal writing is its own discipline, with its own conventions. While the process of learning this complex skill and weaving it into part of your professional identity is a daunting one, Kathryn Boling, Director of the Legal Writing Program and Seattle University thinks it's rewarding experience. She shared her perspective with us.

Sometimes professors give advice that feels theoretical rather than practical. They sometimes have romantic ideas about their craft and give poetic rather than concrete feedback. Jordan Carter is not that professor. Jordan has practiced law, clerked for a judge, and now teachers young lawyers how to write, and she shares her experience and realistic perspective on the process of learning to write legal documents.

What is your role and how did you get to where you are today?

I’m currently the Director of Legal Writing and Clinical Professor of Law at the University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law in Tucson, Arizona. Before I became Director of the program in 2017, I served as Assistant Director for seven years. For the last two years, I have served as the President of the Legal Writing Institute, the largest organization of legal-writing academics in the world, with over 1000 members.

Why teach legal writing? How is it different from every other kind of writing you do? Professor Diana Simon has been a litigator and a legal writing professor, and she knows from both sides how important and specialized good legal writing is. She took the time to talk to us about how to hone your legal writing craft.

What is your role and how did you get to where you are today?

I am currently an associate clinical professor of law, but my journey to get here involved some detours. Growing up with a father who was a criminal defense lawyer and a mother who taught English and journalism, it seemed inevitable that I would eventually tread their paths. I practiced law for 24 years and then began teaching after I retired. After a lengthy stint as an adjunct, five years ago I transitioned to being a full-time professor.

How do you build a curriculum for teaching the next generation of legal professionals to write? Professor Jan Levine has spent his career wrestling with this exact question. Over the last few decades he has refined his methods to distill the most effective strategies and share them with students and educators alike. Here's what he's discovered about how new legal writers learn to write effectively.

Even experienced attorneys and paralegals sometimes need writing help, and if they're lucky, they've got a writing coach like Julie Schrager on staff at their firm to give them the tools they need to succeed. Julie helps legal writers at all levels hone their craft, and she took the time to share some of her tips and experience with us.

What is your role, and how are you involved in legal writing?

I’m ArentFox Schiff’s in-house legal and business writing coach. In my job, I work closely with my fellow attorneys—from summer associates to senior partners—to improve our writing skills. I read and comment on all types of writing, from emails to memos, briefs, and client alerts, and share my thoughts about analysis, structure, content, and style. I also host presentations about a range of writing topics, from drafting effective emails to writing persuasive briefs. One of my favorite parts of the job is helping our newest attorneys adjust to the writing practices of a professional environment.

Legal writing is all about precision and balance. Creating legal documents calls for precision and attention to detail, while requiring creative thinking and reasoning at each step. This can be hard for law students to manage, which is why Professors like Dyane O’Leary dedicate their lives to molding new legal minds. For her, the delicate dance between structure and innovation is a joy to lead.

What do you do when you’ve retired from the state attorney general’s office and you’re looking to do good in the world? For Professor Bev Meyers, the answer was to solve a problem she’d seen in practice—how to make legal writing better. Professor Meyers created the Legal Writing Launch program to teach lawyers to write well in every circumstance, and she shared her process with us.

Some people are born to teach, and Professor Wanda Temm is one of them. Ever since she was a child, Professor Temm has been passionate about learning and teaching. Legal writing is a complex topic, but Professor Temm’s confidence that her students can learn to write well makes her the perfect person to ask how lawyers can learn to write.

Every year WordRake celebrates International Plain Language Day by talking to experts and sharing some of their wisdom on our blog. Today we’re interviewing plain language expert and instructor Kate Harrison Whiteside, one of the fantastic founders of the holiday, about her passion for clear communication.

What is your role and how is it connected to plain language?

I currently wear several hats, and as a hat lover I am happy wearing them all. I am Director of and an instructor with the PlainLanguageAcademies.com. It’s been very exciting to grow with our online training platform to include French and Spanish academies, courses by South African plain language specialists and our students from around the globe.

Learning any language is hard, and English is no exception. Professor Stephen Horowitz has lived and worked abroad, and brings the lessons he learned from his time teaching in Japan to his instruction of Legal English. For him, clear communication with English as a Second Language (ESL) students is a matter of teaching what they need to know, while eliminating cultural jargon from his own speech. His nuanced view of plain language shed a light on how important it is to tailor communication for your target audience.

What is your role and how is it connected to clear communication?

I’m a Professor of Legal English at Georgetown Law School. I help international masters of laws (LLM) students improve their ability to comprehend and communicate in a US legal environment.

The decision to write in plain language is usually a simple matter, but is it always the best choice? Professor Daniel Edelson of Seton Hall University School of Law is a proponent of plain English, but he cautions that it may be more difficult for professionals who have learned English as a second language to understand. He shares his tips for communicating clearly with non-native English speakers in this interview for International Plain Language Day. 

What is your role and how is it connected to clear communication?

I teach legal writing and academic skills to J.D. and LL.M. students at Seton Hall University School of Law. In addition, I teach legal English and US law online to students around the world. I am responsible for teaching students to communicate in a way that will meet the expectations of the US legal profession.

Plain language isn't all about word choice and sentence structure: it's also about design. Where does information sit on a page or website? Are your graphics adding information and function, or just clutter? Information designers and plain language experts like Annie Burger are constantly thinking about how to make important content accessible and usable. She shares her experience with creating clear content with us  for International Plain Language Day.

What is your role and how is it connected to plain language?

I am an information designer and a plain language practitioner at Hey Plain Jane. Basically, we help create clear communication and use any means to achieve that, including words and visuals. I am also a postdoctoral fellow at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. In my research I focus on plain language and how it is experienced in the real world.

We've all run into technical instructions for a product that flew way over our heads. This is annoying when it's something for fun, but when it comes to things like medication and medical devices, those confusing documents can be life threatening. That's why scientists like Kathy Walsh and her company Quality Systems Now work with the companies producing these products to make their information as clear as possible. Kathy shares the importance of plain writing in the sciences in her Q&A for International Plain Language Day.

What is your role and how is it connected to plain language?

I am the founder and Managing Director of Quality Systems Now (QSN), an Australian consulting company that helps pharmaceutical and medical device companies gain or maintain compliance accreditations or meet the manufacturing quality expectations required to make therapeutic goods.

If you've never specifically written in plain language before, it can be difficult to know where to start. Most of us were taught that big words and complex sentences would make us sound smart and trustworthy. Once you realize that your work gains more credence when you write for your audience's needs, it can be hard to break the highfalutin habit. Fortunately, professional writing coach Leslie O'Flahavan has some concrete advice for how to communicate clearly.

What is your role and how is it connected to plain language?

For 27 years, I’ve been the owner of E-WRITE, a writing training consultancy. My mission is to help people write well at work, and plain language provides the framework. I help people understand their relationship with their readers and develop writing skills, so they can meet readers’ needs.

What do you do if you work for the government and need to learn how to communicate clearly and concisely with the public? You go to the annual Communication School, organized by Education Director Michael Hughes of the National Association of Government Communicators! Having dedicated his life's work to honest, direct communication, Michael takes time to share his experiences in this International Plain Language Day interview.

What is your role and how is it connected to plain language?

I am the Education Director with the National Association of Government Communicators (NAGC). In my role, I organize and plan our association’s annual Communication School, where hundreds of professionals in the fields of public affairs, media relations, internal communications and external government affairs come together to network and learn best practices on how to effectively speak, write, and deliver information.

Even with 20 years of writing, reporting, and government communications experience under her belt, National Association of Government Communicators (NAGC) President-Elect Leslie Gervasio finds legalese difficult to understand. Since the average American reads at a middle school level, Leslie knows how important it is to produce clear, readable public facing documents, and shared her thoughts with us for International Plain Language Day.

What is your role, and how is it connected to plain language?

I am a senior public engagement specialist who collaborates with state and local government clients in the transportation industry. My primary goal is to educate elected officials and the public about complex transportation projects that affect their communities and explain why they are important. Transportation is sometimes challenging to write about (who understands what an accelerated bridge construction project is, for example?!), so writing in plain language can limit frustrations and boost credibility.

Everyone needs access to certain information from their governments and service providers. Those tasked with creating those documents have a responsibility to use language that their citizens and customers can understand. Plain language consultant Fraser Buffini points out the importance of clear communication: if you don't know what a set of instructions mean, you're not going to follow them. He shares his strategies for making sure folks can access their rights and fulfill their responsibilities in the interview below.

What is your role and how is it connected to plain language?

I run The Clear Writing Lab, my little online consultancy where I work on commercial plain language projects. I mainly work with international organizations like the EU and the UN, but enjoy working on legal projects too. I also spend a lot of my time as a Plain Language Consultant for Write Ltd. They have done so much to advocate for the plain language movement – and they essentially pioneered plain language as a commercial product. It’s such a joy to work with them. I get to work with a large team of plain language experts on a big mix of projects, and they all have seriously deep knowledge. Because plain language is such a new and evolving industry, it’s hard to find someone experienced to bounce ideas off and to talk with about what works and what doesn’t. Being able to have that sort of exchange at places like Write is crucial for the collective health of the industry.

Diplomacy requires clear communication, and empathy for the needs of allies and strangers alike. Jeremy Lang has spent his career cultivating that sense of connection and use of plain language communication as a diplomat, a plain language consultant, and an educator. He shares his insights on the importance of considering others' needs whenever you have information to share.

What is your role and how is it connected to plain language?

I am the lead on non-formal education in the British Council in the Wider Europe region, which spans a number of countries east of the EU. I also still teach a little English and work with a friend in running a clear language consultancy. My British Council role isn’t directly connected to plain language, but I believe that using plain language is critically important in all that I do.

You can write your documents in short sentences with small words, and they may still not qualify as "plain language." As Center for Plain Language board member Casey Mank explains, plain language is about usability as much as readability. Learn more below as Casey describes what makes a document successful, and how to integrate plain language into your own writing and design.

What is your role and how is it connected to plain language?

I serve on the board of directors at the Center for Plain Language. We are a nonprofit that helps government agencies and businesses write clearly. I’m currently serving my second term on the board and have previously been the Head Judge for the Center’s annual ClearMark Awards. The ClearMarks recognize the very best Plain Language work across industries and in 3 languages.

There are many approaches to plain language, but one central goal: clear communication. Professor Joe Kimble was introduced to the basics of editing legal writing for plain language from a 1970's book and was hooked. Professor Kimble does not use editing software—he prefers direct human feedback for his own writing. In any case, we share something important: a passion for serving readers and consumers through clear communication.

You’ve spent most of your career teaching legal writing. What brought you to this field?

I tell this story in Part 1 of Writing for Dollars, Writing to Please: The Case for Plain Language in Business, Government, and Law. It never occurred to me during law school that anything was wrong with legal writing. And I was an English-lit major in college. Then in the mid-70s (ages ago), I was working on drafting court rules for the Michigan Supreme Court. I had no training for this during law school, so I went to the law library and discovered Reed Dickerson’s Fundamentals of Legal Drafting. I noticed several pages with a list of words and phrases on the left side under the heading “Instead of.” Then on the right side were the plainer, simpler equivalents. It finally started to dawn on me. Why pursuant to instead of under? Why prior to instead of before? And so on. I soon became a convert, although my education was just beginning.

Plain language is innovative. Every time a writer decides to place their reader first, they embark on a new way to communicate. For Professor Michael Blasie, the need for clear communication sparks passion and creativity. He shares his journey from young lawyer imitating the jargon of the past to plain language expert and inventor in celebration of International Plain Language Day.

What is your role and how is it connected to plain language?

I am a researcher, inventor, and teacher driven by one goal: a world where everyone can understand legal documents.

Plain writing isn't boring or simple: it's writing with compassion and creativity. Whether you're composing a letter, advertising a hot new product, or creating instructions for applying to a government program, you want to keep your readers engaged. Copywriter Sara Rosinsky has dedicated her career to creating copy that reaches people with the information they need. She offers her insights on how to write for your reader's benefit.

What is your role and how is it connected to plain language?

I’m an advertising copywriter. So my writing always needs to clarify what my clients are offering—the benefits of buying their products or services. I never want to confuse, bore, or exhaust my readers. I need to pull them in and transmit ideas to them quickly and painlessly.

Nothing is more unpleasant to read than a long, humorless, convoluted technical document filled with jargon and run on sentences. For technical writer Paul Stregevsky, plain language is not simply a matter of using short words and phrases. Paul advocates human writing, creating documents that engage and inform the reader. After years of fighting for his reader's right to clear, memorable communication, he shares his journey with us.

Why did you pursue a career in technical writing?

My fifth-grade teacher asked the class, “What is democracy?” My classmates began, “It’s when—” or “It’s people—”. Mr. Griffin cut them off, “It’s not a when”; “It’s not people.” I began, “A form of government in which—” “Hear that, class? A form of gov-ern-ment …” I could explain things.

Your firm knows they must implement a knowledge management system to be competitive, and they have a plan for how it’s going to happen—but why are there still so few materials in the database and why does it still seem so hard to use? When a firm’s knowledge management system is not allowed to reach its full potential, the company loses value through wasted time searching for or recreating what already exists. An important part of lawyers’ work is applying knowledge to the documents they create and retrieving knowledge stored within those documents; effective knowledge management and efficient, high-quality document creation go hand-in-hand. In this interview, knowledge management and innovation expert Jordan Galvin helps us understand the barriers law firms face when building knowledge management systems and how a firm’s knowledge management execution can set its innovation initiatives up for success.

There are many barriers to effective knowledge management in law firms, but human emotions around ownership and workplace culture can be some of the hardest to overcome. In this interview, knowledge management expert Marlene Gebauer sheds light on the barriers to knowledge management, including the need to rethink teamwork between people and between technologies. She also details how knowledge management and technology can affect document creation, and who will make a good fit to enter the dynamic knowledge management field. Read on to learn more.

Legal documents are full of valuable knowledge. They are also the easiest source of knowledge to improve the firm’s future document creation and strategies. But a sea of data is useless unless what you need can be easily found—good knowledge management is the difference between time wasted and time saved. Legal tech has made incredible advances for knowledge management, but its reputation as a silver bullet can actually make legal work harder rather than easier, unless we know how to harness its power. Knowledge management expert and former lawyer Jack Shepherd warns against assuming tech can automatically improve legal practices, and explains the importance of defining goals, determining realistic strategies, and putting in the work when implementing knowledge management technologies. Read on to find out why knowledge management is essential to improved document creation, and how the barriers, and solutions, to reaping these benefits are not what (or who) you thought they might be.

Are there moments at work that make you think, “There has to be a better way to do this”? Everyone has had this thought at some point, but it takes significant time and coordination with coworkers and experts to investigate these workplace inefficiencies which slow everyone down. There may be pushback against changing existing systems from “the way it’s always been,” but making the investment in knowledge management systems can have substantial payoff beyond relieving your pet peeves. In this interview with lawyer and knowledge management expert Bárbara Gondim da Rocha, learn how knowledge management can develop solutions that keep your company profitable and keep clients satisfied, even with a competitive market and added difficulties of remote work in the pandemic.

The purpose of knowledge management is to collect, organize, and enable the effective use of knowledge across an organization. The most successful law firms understand that knowledge is an asset and rely on knowledge management professionals to turn it into a competitive advantage. Someone can take a firm to the next level when they have a deep understanding of what constitutes valuable knowledge and the ability to anticipate when and how others will need to use that knowledge. If that person can create an industry-wide map of that knowledge, then she can create a paradigm shift. That’s exactly what Nicola Shaver is doing as lawyer-turned-founder of Legaltech Hub. In this interview you’ll learn how Nicola views document content as unstructured data and how that insightful approach allows her to create long-term value.

Technology is constantly evolving, and it’s up to every company to stay relevant and competitive in their field by adopting technology to improve their practice. Lawyers are knowledge workers, and their valuable knowledge, from knowing local rules and precedents, to partner capabilities and judge preferences, must be recorded to be readily usable and make litigation more affordable and accessible to clients. Knowledge management expert and former litigator Evan Shenkman sheds light on how tech has propelled legal knowledge management to new heights, to the point it has become a necessity to attract and retain clients.

What happens before a brief gets filed or a case gets argued? The visible, exciting, and sometimes glamorous parts of legal practice are built on the hard work of a behind-the-scenes team. In this interview, veteran paralegal Shawn D. Andrews explains how litigation paralegals keep the judicial process moving forward and provides tips for how you can be a high-value member of the legal team.

The legal world is vast and there are many ways to contribute to it aside from being a lawyer. The narrow view of who may contribute to law seems even smaller when it comes to contracts (as compared to litigation), but that’s about to change. In this interview, Richard Lackey explains his new role in legal technology as a contract review specialist at LegalSifter and shares what he’s learned from his multi-dimensional experience as a legal translator and paralegal.

Paralegals bring with them diverse skillsets, perspectives, and experiences that can elevate a law practice. One often-overlooked path is that of a lawyer educated outside of the United States who chooses to use their skills in a paralegal role. In this moving interview with lawyer-turned-paralegal Renee Tiun, she discusses her path to becoming a paralegal and how her unique experience gives her an advantage when serving international tax clients.

The most efficient legal service team combines the complementary strengths of its members. While lawyers may understand the “why” of the work, paralegals understand the “how.” And, together, they meet client needs.

It’s time to re-imagine law firms and legal work. Consider a world where paralegals can hold ownership interests in firms, represent clients, and do substantive legal work. Though regulators in the United States are just now exploring these options, it’s a reality in Ontario, Canada. Recently, paralegal Melanie Henriques became a partner in her firm. In this interview, Melanie discusses her path to partnership and how paralegals can help law firms provide cost-effective legal services to clients who would otherwise go unrepresented.

Though paralegals often help with document-creation tasks, they are not merely typists. Paralegals have a deep understanding of a firm’s workflows and, if given the opportunity and respect, can modernize and maintain the firm’s knowledge base. In this insightful interview with paralegal-turned-lawyer-and-legal-technologist Ryan Groff, he explains how paralegals can help firms reach new heights of productivity and efficiency through technology.

Contrary to what many lawyers believe, paralegal work is not synonymous with clerical work. A well-trained paralegal can draft documents, investigate claims, engage with clients, and more. Each of these skills is high value for any law firm, and these are the types of skills Keith Shannon teaches in the Paralegal Technology Department at Central Piedmont Community College. In this interview, Keith explains how he moved from practicing law to teaching paralegals and the types of challenges he trains the paralegals in his program to meet.

Paralegals are essential but often-overlooked members of legal services teams. Because of the hierarchical nature of the legal profession, many people refuse to see how much value paralegals can contribute to a firm. That’s a mistake. In this interview with paralegal-turned-lawyer Elmer Thoreson, he uses his experiences from both roles to challenge the hierarchy. Learn from Elmer as he reveals the many ways paralegals can contribute to an effective, efficient, innovative legal practice that clients will love.

Paralegals are essential to the legal practice because they have a practical understanding of how to complete each piece of the legal process and how each piece connects. All legal professionals can obtain better outcomes by working together and drawing on the unique skills each person brings to the team. In this interview, veteran paralegal Tisha Delgado, ACP® explains how lawyers can better work with paralegals and leverage their technical know-how for success. Read on to learn how the right combination of software, technology, and planning will enable a paralegal to work efficiently, which helps the law firm thrive.

“Paralegals hold a significant and invaluable position, offering skills and performing job duties that are indispensable,” says paralegal educator Debra C. Galloway. Seeing the value that paralegals bring to legal work, Debra was called to teach paralegals. She has been a paralegal educator at Midlands Technical College for seven years.

Paralegals are key players in law firms and can set the tone for clients. They’re often the first voice or the first face that a client encounters when seeking legal advice. With formal training, paralegals are better prepared to take on that important role. In this interview with certified paralegal and professor of paralegal studies Jackie Van Dyke, she explains the value of training and shines a light on the essential skills paralegals bring to the table.

What is your role and how did you get to where you are today?

I am a certified paralegal, professor of paralegal studies, and the owner and legal writing coach at The Paralegal Writer™  (www.theparalegalwriter.com). I offer writing courses to the paralegal community with a focus on helping paralegals pass the NALA Skills Exam. I am honored to have the opportunity to teach at both my alma maters and to write for numerous paralegal publications. I also appreciate the honor of currently serving on the Continuing Education Council and Paralegal Educators/School Relations Committee for NALA.

Effective communication with clients is required for success as a legal professional. In this enlightening interview, paralegal Berlinda Bernard debunks some myths about paralegals, what paralegals do, and how writing skills are fundamental to her work.

Many privacy professionals will persuade by drawing on the fear that private information may be disclosed, but Shaun takes a different approach: He draws interesting distinctions between similar topics and asks questions that will make you think twice.

User-generated and crowd-sourced content have become familiar terms with the rise of social apps. Though user-generated content has existed outside of the social media context for years, we still fail to grasp its significance in our business and personal lives away from social apps.

Have you heard about the importance of metadata but you’re not sure what it is or how to address it? Metadata is data about data, and lawyers are must keep it confidential according to the ethics rules. In this interview with document privacy expert Chris Cangero, you’ll learn about the information in your documents—that doesn’t appear on the page—and discover where it fits in your privacy and security analysis.

Anyone using technology should read the fine print in privacy policies, especially legal professionals. The tools used in the business and practice of law have access to confidential client information—and we’re obligated to protect that information. To adequately protect client confidences, we must know which questions to ask, and understand the risks and benefits of using technology.

In this enlightening interview, privacy expert Donata Stroink-Skillrud explains how to assess privacy policies and which questions to ask when you’re considering new software. Donata also draws attention to potential privacy issues that are often buried within privacy policies, like third-party permission to access data. This interview is the playbook for responsible privacy assessment. Read on for Donata’s helpful advice.

What is your role and how is it related to privacy law?

I am a lawyer licensed in Illinois, and I have been practicing in privacy and technology law for about five years. I am also a Certified Information Privacy Professional, and the President and legal engineer behind Termageddon. Termageddon is a Software as a Service company that has generated thousands of privacy policies and kept them up to date with changing privacy legislation. As the legal engineer, I have drafted policy questionnaires, answer options, and millions of variations on text, so I am very familiar with the privacy policy requirements for privacy laws all over the world. I am also the Vice-Chair of the American Bar Association’s ePrivacy Committee and the Chair of the Chicago Chapter of the International Association of Privacy Professionals. I am also the Chair of the American Bar Association’s ePrivacy Committee, member of the ABA’s Science and Technology Council and the Cybersecurity Legal Task Force. I am also the Chair of the Chicago Bar Association’s Privacy and Cybersecurity Committee and an American Bar Foundation Fellow. 

Privacy policies and regulations can seem like an inscrutable web of unmanageable obligations. However, a unified theory of privacy can help these seemingly disparate ideas fall into place and reveal significance. In this powerful interview with privacy expert Cat Coode, she explains how discrete information is more important than we might expect; how we fundamentally misjudge the information we trade away; and how overbroad data collection practices put users and companies at risk. Once you see how all the pieces of the privacy puzzle come together, you’ll re-think your approach to data collection and its implications.

For this interview series, we spoke with privacy experts who looked beyond the obvious, expected, and attention-grabbing privacy issues, to the mundane issues that average people face—but may not recognize. South African privacy expert Nerushka Bowan shows us that privacy is truly an everyday issue, from haphazard use of common social applications; to hard copies of documents left unsecured on desks; to selfies inadvertently showing important documents. Read on for an eye-opening interview about common privacy matters.

When lawyers hear “inadvertent disclosure” or “exposed client confidences,” they immediately think of stray emails and shadowy hackers. That narrow understanding means we don’t recognize when other issues of confidentiality may be in play. This interview will broaden your thinking.

Even the most lauded legal writers struggle in some way. Too wordy. Too granular. Can’t start. Can’t stop. Wedded to the language of caselaw. But these struggles make sense when we think about the importance of the outcomes of our legal writing. The heavy weight of our work keeps us from doing what our writing should do most: Tell a compelling, human story that makes the reader care. Journalists' words bear a similar weight—a news story can shape the way the world thinks.

The most significant difference between lawyers and journalists is that journalists put the story first, then they allow the story to drive structure and flow. Lawyers rarely apply storytelling to their writing. In this interview, award-winning journalist, blogger, and lawyer Bob Ambrogi shows how we can bring journalistic storytelling into legal writing to draft better documents. (He will also make you laugh!)

Journalists excel at asking good questions and finding the story, which are the foundation of good writing. Good questions will reveal to you the story yearning to be written. Knowing your story will help you plan and focus your writing. And with that focus, you’ll know what’s important to your audience and deliver on deadline.

There is no requirement that legal writing must be boring. Let’s take direction from journalists: Make introductions captivating; craft animated sentences that compel you to keep reading; and make general audiences feel smart about specific topics. We can learn these skills from journalists through reading their work, and, if we’re lucky, through journalists' edits on their own work.

In a creative—and brave—step away from the status quo, in 2010, top law firm O’Melveny & Myers LLP hired Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Jesse Katz to help the firm’s lawyers write better documents. We interviewed Jesse about his role and got his advice about lessons from journalism that we can apply to law. Here, Jesse models how to say more with fewer words and inspires you to write legal briefs worthy of the front page.

Part 3: Creating a Culture of Change in Law Firms

If culture eats strategy for breakfast, then what’s the recipe for a culture that works? In the final part of this three-part series, change management expert Maya Markovich lays out the ingredients for a culture of change. She addresses both sides of the recruiting equation and explains what to look for in the change agents of tomorrow.

Part 2: Change Management in Law Firms

Convincing people to embrace change is the biggest challenge of change management. It requires a combination of structural changes that reward change, cultural changes that encourage it, and individuals who are open to new approaches. If any elements are overlooked, change efforts are unlikely to succeed.

Part 1: Behavioral Economics and Legal Business

There’s a science to changing minds and changing behaviors—and Maya Markovich has studied it. She combines her Masters in social and organizational psychology with her JD and practice experience in her role at Nextlaw Labs, a global legal technology accelerator and innovation catalyst. In this three-part interview, Maya explains what drives behavior and why understanding it matters in the legal profession today.

When a law student graduates from law school, they quickly realize there is more to learn than what law school taught them. WordRake recently spoke with Michael Bloom, founder of Praktio, an online learning platform for lawyers. Michael is a former lawyer and law school professor turned tech entrepreneur.

A strong writer doesn’t just deliver information, she convinces you of its veracity and value. A strong communicator doesn’t just talk, she listens to uncover and understand her audience’s needs. The most successful professionals and executives do both. Together, these skills make you a trusted leader. And whether you are trusted to lead is the difference between a rainmaker and a service partner. If you dream of becoming a power player, this interview is for you.

Effectively communicating about complex topics like health, law, and finance requires that we think about what we know and who else needs to know it. The problem arises when we stop the process after verifying our knowledge—and without getting to the reader’s needs. It happens because experts often conflate communicating accurately with communicating clearly. But they’re not the same.

In this engaging interview, Ben Riggs confronts the assumptions that lead to unclear communication and shows us the empathy that we should have for readers facing life-changing decisions. Read on for Ben’s lessons in plain language and health communication through storytelling.

When it comes to plain language, law and finance are two of the industries most reluctant to change. But changing gets easier when you have a plain language partner who knows how to guide the transition. That’s where plain language expert Andrew Pegler excels. He converts legal contracts and business reports to plain English, then trains the organization’s lawyers and staff to do the same.

Andrew has built his career convincing corporations and law firms that plain language has brand advantages, then helping them write in a new way. Andrew’s work is a study in successful change management. He delivers his plain English workshops at an appropriate level, respects and develops the existing knowledge and skills of staff, and provides useable writing and editing tips and techniques. 

We spoke with Andrew about plain language in law. In this interview, you’ll learn how plain language is a brand advantage and get eight tips for using plain language in your own writing. Read on for Andrew’s lessons.

Have you ever considered that legalese might be a barrier to lawyers’ understanding, too? Once lawyers get outside of their practice area, the language they encounter feels like confusing legal jargon. This makes it harder for lawyers to volunteer to help everyday people who need legal services. So even when there’s the desire to help—and an elegant, streamlined structure to facilitate helping, like Paladin—confusing legal language still diminishes lawyers’ ability to provide legal services.

It’s eye-opening to discover that legal jargon confuses lawyers, too. And it’s heartbreaking to realize how that impacts access to justice. But access to justice entrepreneurs Felicity Conrad and Kristen Sonday are changing that. They’ve built a technology platform to help legal teams run more efficient pro bono programs, and as part of that effort, they’ve tackled how access to justice is wrapped up in jargon.

We spoke with Felicity and Kristen about how plain language impacts access to justice. In this interview, they illustrate how language is an ever-present issue: from top-25 languages that are entirely unrepresented in law; to legal euphemisms that obscure the social justice implications of laws; to the legalese that makes it hard for lawyers to help the public. These insights will make you re-think what you think you know about legal communication. Read the interview now.

Plain language expert Russell Willerton believes that professionals have an ethical imperative to write plainly in certain situations. He hopes to get us to spend less energy talking “at” someone and more energy talking “with” someone in a true dialogue. Put simply: Some situations require more care than others.

Unfortunately, many of us never consider how a reader comes to information in their lives and the outside factors that may impede their ability to comprehend the message. We think only about what we want to say and we forget about the reader’s human needs. To address that problem, Russell created the BUROC framework (Bureaucratic, Unfamiliar, Rights-Oriented, and Critical) to identify situations in which audiences would benefit from plain language.

We spoke with Russell to learn more about how plain language relates to access to justice and empathy for the reader. In this interview, Russell illustrates how unclear language is a barrier to understanding and harms decision-making. Read on for more insight on plain language and justice.

Consider the consequences of unclear communication. It’s more than closing a browser window in frustration or scratching your head in confusion. In this straightforward interview, plain language expert Barbra Kingsley, PhD gives real-world examples of how misunderstanding seriously harms people.

Barbra’s interview is a wake-up call to professionals, people in power positions, and governments. When people encounter information they don’t understand, they don’t keep searching—they give up. We have an ethical obligation to help them before that happens. We do that through plain language. Read on as Barbra makes a convincing case for plain language in law, health, finance, and anywhere important rights are at stake.

Plain language helps people to find what they need, understand what they find, and have enough information to act on and meet their needs. The intersection where health and law meet seems like one of the least likely places where you’d find plain language. But Professor Christopher Trudeau is changing that.

We spoke with Chris about plain language and health literacy. In this interview, Chris explains how “every facet of modern life can be improved or enhanced by plain language” and shares what he’s learned from his research. Read on for Chris’s plain language insight.

Using plain language makes good business sense—and plain language expert Deborah S. Bosley, PhD has dedicated her work to helping corporations and government entities communicate clearly.

In this straight-forward interview, Deborah makes a clear case for plain language in business and civic life and she challenges all professionals to take responsibility for public understanding. Read on as Deborah explains the ethical imperative to write in a manner that’s easy for the public to understand and offers insight on clear communication.

Our language choices can create a barrier to understanding, but they can also do something worse. The words we use can disempower, retraumatize, and confuse the people most needing the resources—who are often overlooked by the professionals duty-bound to serve them.

To truly be service-oriented professionals, we must put clear, compassionate communication first. We must go beyond plain language to trauma-sensitive language. Dorna Moini, CEO and Co-founder of Gavel understands these needs and she’s dedicated to providing access to justice through technology that serves the people.

We spoke with Dorna about how plain language impacts access to justice. In this interview, Dorna paints a moving picture of the importance of language and urges us, as officers of the court and protectors of the law, to expand legal information to members of the public. Read on for Dorna’s insights.

Editors help writers meet the needs of their audience. Plain-language editors do even more. Plain-language editors evaluate written content, assess how easy it would be for a member of the general public to understand and act on it, then edit the content to better meet audience needs. This approach is backed by science and user testing and is highly contextual. It takes an expert to get it right. Iva Cheung is that expert.

We spoke with Iva Cheung—one of the most authoritative voices on plain language editing—about plain language and access to justice. In this interview, Iva illustrates how unclear language is a barrier to understanding and therefore exercising rights. Read on for Iva’s insightful and moving interview on plain language and justice.

Anyone who writes for the public must do so clearly. While it’s easy to complain about legalese, business-speak, and medical jargon, unclear writing that harms the public can come from another place: the news.

Since 1975, the Poynter Institute for Media Studies has been leading the charge for journalistic integrity and clear writing with hopes to fortify journalism’s role in a free society. As stewards of public information, journalists must deliver the information in a manner that the public can understand.

We spoke with renowned author, former journalist, and senior scholar for Poynter, Roy Peter Clark, about plain language and its connection to a concept called “civic clarity.” Read this interview for insight on making hard facts easy reading. Then ask yourself the 20 questions for civic clarity that will help writers solve problems and satisfy their duty of clear communication.

A common assumption about plain language is that it requires “dumbing down” material for readers to their disadvantage. But plain legal language researcher and advocate, Cheryl Stephens, knows that’s not true. Plain language is as clear, understandable, and simple as the situation allows and it is effective for its purpose.

Drawing on empathy and neuroscience research, Cheryl helps professionals and businesses understand why plain language is important and teaches them to create documents that readers will understand.

We spoke with Cheryl about misconceptions about plain language and the many approaches scientists use to predict whether a document is readable. In this interview, you’ll learn how readability and writeability work together and gain a framework for legal literacy. Read on for Cheryl’s lessons in plain language.

When it comes to writing, learning from others and then practicing what you have learned can be of immense help. In this interview, WordRake speaks with Adam Eckart, Assistant Professor of Legal Writing at Suffolk University Law School, who teaches legal writing and has written extensively on teaching writing to law students, including through using tech in both litigation and transactional settings.

Writing can be a source of many things —of inspiration, of learning, or of meditation, for example. Writing is an iterative process, so whether you are hoping to be the next John Grisham or just want to blog, learning from others and then practicing what you have learned can be of immense help.

We tell ourselves stories in order to live.” - Joan Didion, writer and journalist

Many dream of becoming a published author and turning writing into a full-time job. Others simply strive to capture their thoughts, experiences, and stories in writing to share with a few friends and family members.