Contemporary Australian legal texts on drafting confirmed that among lawyers, proponents of plain English were in a minority.⁶

Many lawyers have difficulty in accepting anything other than traditional legal terminology; the ancient sonorous language of the law embodies all they stand for.

Despite this, there was a perception that Australian lawyers were in favour of plain English and did in fact use it. In a 1994 survey by the NSW Law Society’s Plain Language Committee 93% of respondents said they were in favour of plain language in legal drafting. But in surveying them as to whether they practised what they preached, only 83.2% said they actually drafted legal documents in plain language and only 85.5% said they thought they understood what was involved in plain language drafting.⁷

The odd 15% was fairly consistent with the proportion of Sparke Helmore documents and letters that needed plain English review. It confirmed that when they sit down to write, many lawyers forget plain English principles.⁸

LAWYERS' HUMOUR

Lawyers are funny

My challenge was to tell both newly admitted and more experienced lawyers that they could improve their writing by using plain English. And, that they could be more creative and adventurous in their writing. One of the pleasures in working with lawyers is their wit and humour - they usually love playing with words. But this is usually in their incidental office banter; over the photocopier and fax machines, at lunch and morning tea breaks, and staff drinks and other informal occasions. I wanted to encourage them to inject some of this banter into their legal writing:

‘Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.’ Even tension and pomposity.⁹

At the end of each month Sparke Helmore practice groups alternate in hosting drinks. The themes, such as ‘A Night at the Movies’, ‘The Wild Wild West’ and ‘Fiesta Mejicana’ are usually humorous and creative. One practice group superimposed the faces of senior partners on the bodies of the Village People (Attachment ‘B’). The humour and creativity in producing these themes is a great way to defuse tension and put daily challenges of legal practice into perspective.¹⁰

Humour is 'in-house'

But the humour and creativity is mainly ‘in house’ and not shared with clients, at least in written communication. It seems that when it comes to writing, the lawyers put on another mantle and the Village People are back in the closet: