The legal profession requires some serious legal drafting to advocate, persuade and instruct people through the documents; it requires time and essential skills to draft a proper and ideal legal document. Here are some steps to follow that will help one to draft legal documents-
- Remember that the draft is for whom one should know their audience while drafting any legal document so that he /she can use their language according to that. But generally, the legal document shall use active voice as it persuades the receiver of the document to perform his or her duty. Therefore one should use action words; it will be wise enough to use words like "must", "shall", "should" etc. as it imposes the obligation to perform the duty that the receiver of the document is asked to do.
- On the other hand, the documents such as the memorandum or the informative legal document shall provide the information it is supposed to, such as the result of analysing the reports, issues that need to be addressed and your take on the situation.
- One must stick to the matter while drafting a legal document; he/she should be direct enough to address the problem or come up with the subject matter.
- The person should be well aware that he/she shall use the present tense while drafting and one must organise the writing so that the subject matter forms a chain of information and avoid confusion as the receiver might not understand. One is also advised to make a rough draft before the final draft to understand the series of information himself. Usage of past tense helps maintain the effective continuation.
- Words like “furthermore”, “however” shall be used frequently. Use of the headings and subheading must be done wisely and sharply to draft a clean legal document.
- If one needs to express any idea, it shall be done positively. Positivity is important while drafting a legal document. It will be a good take if one avoids any exceptions as it will give the draft a negative effect.
- To promote clarity, one must avoid the use of complicated legal jargons; the document should be simple and clear to the receiver. If the document contains a lot of legal jargons, it confuses the receiver as he might not have the legal expertise to interpret them.
- Every word that one writes in the legal document shall contribute to the message or what you want to say. One should omit extraneous words, shorten the complex or complicated sentences, eliminate redundancies, and last but not the least keep it simple.
- Be consistent throughout the document; do not repeat the same things then and again, the document by using different words; it avoids confusion.
- Make the ideas in the document look parallel. Your idea should reflect the message one would like to pass on through the legal document.
- Last but not least, avoid using gender-specific words. Make it look more gender-neutral.
- Use short, affirmative and logical statements throughout the legal document. And you are good to go. Keep these in mind, and your draft is ready.
