Introduction to Legal Writing

Course Code: PLBA 1502

Academic Year: 2024-2025

This course provides students with practical guidelines and established rules of drafting as tools for developing legal documents in plain language. The course will emphasize the fundamentals of plain language drafting, including word selection, sentence structure and the proper organization of material that effectively democratizes legal language. Students will gain practical experience in drafting legal correspondence, editing standard precedents and preparing routine legal documents. A remedial approach will be taken in identifying unnecessary legalese and transforming key representative documents into clear, plain language documents. The course also examines the principles of legislative drafting and documenting terms of settlement.