Attorney Editor Benefits Legal Writing

Legal Editing Benefits Legal Documents

Why does your legal writing need an attorney editor to be its best? Because legal writing is so critical you need a second pair of trained eyes to spot not only typos or grammatical/ spelling/punctuation errors, but also lapses in legal logic or other problems with the way you present your argument. Many proofreaders can catch mistakes in English, but only an attorney editor can comment on your legal analysis or if you are emphasizing/de-emphasizing the right facts.

Most legal memoranda, pleadings and briefs have a single goal: persuade. To persuade your judge, opposing counsel, senior partner or even your client, your legal writing must follow the five “C”s:

Correct
Clear
Concise
Consistent
Convincing

A legal editor, especially an attorney editor, can find the errors both in your language and citation formats that would reduce your credibility if discovered by others. An attorney editor can make certain your argument is clear so it can be easily followed. As wordiness takes away the power of your argument, an attorney editor can reduce repetition and pare your legal writing down to make it concise. An attorney editor can also make certain your legal writing is consistent by checking that the names of the parties stay the same (or even more importantly, that the $15 million contract on page one hasn’t become a $15 thousand contract in the prayer.) Finally and most critically, an attorney editor can tell you if your argument is convincing – and if not, how to make it so.

A good attorney editor is so much more than a legal proofreader, yet there may be little if any difference in cost. For just a few dollars per page, an attorney editor can give you the input of a virtual legal colleague that will assure the legal documents you produce for your clients are the best they can be.