It is a wonderful thing that people can make a living by delivering the social and economic benefits of clear legal communication. It strongly suggests that the movement has succeeded—though, to be sure, there’s much to be done in implementing that success and in ensuring that every legal and related document everywhere is easy for its intended audience to understand and to use.

Much to be done indeed.

3. The success of plain-language

Initially, the plain-language movement focussed on the social benefits of clear legal communication: improving access to justice, and enabling consumers to make more informed decisions.⁸

In more recent times, plain-language proponents moved on to focus on the benefits that plain language can deliver to the people whom the movement was seeking to convert—key decision-makers in business and in government. On the whole, those key decision-makers are more interested in the economic benefits of plain language: improvements in efficiency, effectiveness, and customer satisfaction.⁹

Yet even after this change in focus, many decision-makers outside the legal profession still seem to see plain language as merely a worthy offshoot of the consumer movement.

Where the plain-language movement has really succeeded is in its debate with the legal profession about whether plain language is accurate, certain, and precise. Plain language won that debate. This is shown by the fact that in most English speaking countries, the legal profession no longer argues that it is impossible for a document to be:

• on the one hand, clear and reader-friendly; and

• on the other hand, accurate, certain, and precise.

It is this success of the plain-language movement that has enabled people to earn a living—and more—through plain language. And that has created the situation in which it is a little odd to go on calling the plainlanguage thing a "movement".