LEGALEASE BULLETINS

Educating with entertainment

Miss Spelt has made a big impression where the Precedents Manager would have been relegated to the status of an extra in the nightclub scenes of ‘Ally McBeal’. Fortnightly bulletins on topics such as ‘Archaic Words’ ‘Email Etiquette’ and ‘Punctuation’ are published with Miss Spelts’ imprimatur. The bulletins are punchy and informative as well as allowing readers a short break from the daily grind.

Based on evaluations and informal feedback, most people read and enjoy the bulletins (about three-quarters of approx. 500 staff). Lawyers have begun to notice the precedents department – quite an achievement given the low profile of precedents departments in most law firms. Partners report that young lawyers are debating whether to insert a comma or capitalise a noun. Staff, scrolling through their emails are about to delete yet another one, until their attention is caught by the unexpected (Attachment ‘E’) Titillated by the humour, or perhaps the chance of winning a prize, they open the attachment and are entertained by Miss Spelt’s wisdom.

Mr Qwerty joins the team

I became so worried about the pressure on Miss Spelt that I asked my team to come up with a companion- someone who could concentrate on formatting and other presentation issues, leaving Miss Spelt to deal with writing and plain English. We now have Mr Qwerty on the team. (Attachment ‘F’) Mr Qwerty provides the masculine bold side to Miss Spelt’s sensitive but firm assertiveness. He reinforces awareness in formal aspects of document presentation such as white space, highlighting and font size that make reading easier. Less experienced word processors now know what ‘qwerty’ stands for.⁴² As well as entertainment it’s all about education.

Raising awareness

Lawyers and support staff ask themselves ‘What would Miss Spelt or Mr Qwerty say about this?’ It’s the awareness that counts. Gradual induction to plain English and other communication issues is creating a culture of good writing consciousness. Fear of unnecessary time and anal retentiveness over the correctness of grammar and punctuation is dispelled by the importance of presentation of the Firm’s writing to the outside world.