When you start on a legal draft, keep different formats in your mind for different readers. A judge will be deciding on a dispute, to the point pleadings, facts that matter, and prayer clause at the end. A client wants to win, use plain language only, start with stating the problem, and finish with an answer. Opposing counsel is looking for a weak spot, you need to have proper evidence on what you state. If your legal draft is reaching all of them, draft it for those who are the most important, that is the judge and the opposing counsel.
Most fresh lawyers write one version and change the wordings depending on who gets it next. Less jargon for the client, more formality for the court. They often think that it produces a proper legal draft for the right person. It does, because a judge, a client, and opposing counsel are not reading for the same reason. A judge is deciding something. A client is trying to survive something. Opposing counsel is hunting for the dent. Get the reader wrong and the draft fails, even when every sentence in it is technically correct.
What does a judge want from your legal draft?
Judges read a lot and due to this they have the skill to skim a document and get to the point faster. A trial court judge might have forty matters on one cause list. Your pleadings must be concise and to the point. No long stories of what happened you can do that in the arguments. Not to prove evidence in pleadings. Not to mention emotional stories in your pleadings on facts and those facts which matter. Your pleadings should not have laws and acts written in it. Put your demands at the end under the prayer clause. Not in the middle of your pleadings. Do not re-write stuff just to extend the length of your document as it can backfire in the shape of wasting the court’s time.
When you intend to cite a case law you should not read the whole case, pick only the relevant para and mention that before a judge. Judges catch overstated citations, and once a judge stops trusting your citations, they start double-checking everything else you write. I would rather concede a weak point myself than have a judge find it and wonder what else I left out.
Your pleadings are your arguments and focus on it as it builds your case further. If your pleadings are strong your case will be stronger. A judge who sees you already anticipated the weak spot trusts the rest of the draft more, not less.
Clients need a legal draft they can use
The majority of the clients have no legal knowledge that is why they bring us to solve their problems.They only want to win, they don’t care about what the legal books have to say and how things work.The only thing they care about is winning.
To a client, state everything like an 8th grade. If legal jargon comes up, define it in one or two simple sentences, not paras for which they have no time to give. Until and unless the clients want it, keep the legal discussion off the table, state how they will and can achieve their goal.
If the case is weak, say it plainly. If you sugarcoat things for a weak case you are damaging your career. Believe me, losing a client with a weak case is better than losing your career. Sign every document by your client earlier, this is a sign that shows your client you are prepared for what’s coming.
Opposing counsel reads your legal draft looking for the weak spot
The document you drafted for the court will also be read by the opposing counsel and he is looking only for dents in your legal draft. Overstating facts is the best way to lose credibility. If your position is strong enough, state the facts plainly. Padding it with adjectives or aggressive language will only back fire.
For every claim you make, support it with a document or precedent. Do not assume the opposing counsel and the court will guess how much of an amount of damages you incurred or theft happened at X time of the day. Vague assertions invite a vague, and dismissive reply. These mistakes will cost you losing clients and credibility. The opposing counsel will easily state to the court that you are hiding facts.
Professional courtesy costs nothing and buys a lot. Disagree with the position, not the person. I have seen a civil tone in early correspondence make a settlement conversation possible months later, after the initial dispute had cooled. That does not happen when the first letter reads like an attack. At the same time, be clear about where you will not move. A vague draft invites more correspondence, not less, because the other side keeps probing to find your actual line.
What holds legal draft together
With different vocabulary, the same habits make a legal draft better for any reader. Put the important information where someone will find it, not buried in the middle of the 5th page. The tone should be consistent. If you call something a lease in paragraph one, do not call it an agreement in paragraph four. Readers notice this kind of inconsistency even when they cannot name why the writing feels off, your draft will lose credibility.
Proofread everything. A typo in a draft tells the reader you are not serious. A wrong citation in a court filing looks worse, it looks like you did not do your home work before filing it. Opposing counsel will catch your mistakes faster than anyone, because finding them is part of their job.
What does legal drafting mean?
Legal drafting is the writing of a legal document. Writing a document that is backed by the law and the facts that is to be produced before a court. The legal drafting takes place when you have to write pleadings, applications, statements, a contract, a legal notice, a demand letter, each one counts as legal drafting the moment you start putting sentences on the page.
What are the different types of legal drafts?
Plaints, written statements, applications, and appeals, all built to a format the court. Contracts and agreements make up another, where the wording itself creates rights and obligations. Correspondence covers demand letters, legal notices, and settlement letters, usually drafted for the opposing counsel or the other side directly. Each type gets read differently, so each one has to be drafted differently.
Many people are confused on how to write a business closure notice and I have made it super easy on how to do it. LegalsGram has free legal guides and templates for you to start with.
How do I draft a legal document?
Start reading legal documents such as pleadings, applications, statements, a contract, a legal notice, a demand letter. Once you have read like a 100 legal drafts start with writing creating fake scenarios. Learn about the structure of different legal drafts. Gather the facts and the relevant law. You can draft better if you read precedents daily. It will build your legal knowledge and you will know how judgements are written. Draft the structure before the sentences. When you have written your draft, edit it for clarity. Read it once from the reader’s seat, a judge’s, a client’s, or opposing counsel’s, and check whether it still makes sense.
What is the purpose of a draft?
A legal draft exists to make something happen. A plaint exists to get a court to initiate a case. A demand letter is to get the other side to pay or respond. A contract exists to fix an agreement so neither side can quietly change the terms later. If a draft does not move something forward, whether that is a decision, a payment, a signature, or an understanding, it has not done its job, no matter how well it reads.
If you need help drafting a legal document or editing it or proofreading it you can contact me on LinkedIn.