In the preceding chapters we examined the influences that tend to perpetuate the traditional style of legal drafting. We also considered the ways in which legal documents are interpreted. We traced the move towards plain legal language and explored some of the benefits of using modern, standard English in legal documents. Now we move to discuss rather more closely the techniques of drafting in modern, standard English. This discussion we divide into three parts: issues of structure and form (the subject of this chapter); issues of particular significance or difficulty for legal drafters (chapter 6); and issues with words and phrases (chapter 7).
In this chapter, then, we deal with structure and form. Legal drafters traditionally pay little attention to this topic.
Document structure
Structure and form are crucial to an effective, readable legal document. The contents of a legal document should be consciously ordered to enable it to be read as quickly and efficiently as the subject-matter will allow. To achieve this, the document must be ordered logically – by which we mean logically fromthe reader’s perspective. Each clause and paragraph should be presented in a way that is both sensible and comprehensible to the reader.
Three logical structures
To require all legal documents to adopt a common structure would be illogical. Each transaction has its own key elements, and each client is different.However,we venture to suggest that most transactional documents could logically followone of three structures.They are: telescoping (or frontloading); thematic; or chronological. Let us consider each in turn.
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