{"id":5154,"date":"2014-08-04T17:38:57","date_gmt":"2014-08-04T16:38:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/writehouse.org\/?p=227"},"modified":"2014-08-04T17:38:57","modified_gmt":"2014-08-04T16:38:57","slug":"5-benefits-of-legal-writing-training-you-should-know-by-senator-ihenyen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writehouseng.com\/w\/5-benefits-of-legal-writing-training-you-should-know-by-senator-ihenyen\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Benefits of legal-writing training you should know by Senator Ihenyen"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a>Today, there is little or nothing a lawyer can do without writing; for judges, absolutely nothing. Writing well is the most critical and yet the rarest skill in law.<\/p>\n

In his book, Legal Writing Fundamentals <\/em>(2014), Chinua Asuzu, the CEO of the Write House and expert in legal writing, puts it this way: \u201cToday\u2019s legal world is writing-biased. Written argument is required at trial and appellate courts. Writing also dominates arbitration and alternative dispute resolution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone needs sound training in legal writing. But most lawyers and judges do not think so. Many senior lawyers, particularly, don\u2019t think they need any legal-writing training. At best, they recommend it to their junior colleagues. \u201cWho needs legal-training at this stage<\/em>!?\u201d one senior lawyer within the premises of the Lagos State High Court, Igbosere, once remarked dismissively. But do you know that most lawyers who think they write well do not? Carl Felsenfeld, a learned writer, eloquently wrote in a U.S. Business Law Journal, \u201cLawyers have two common failings. One is that they do not write well, and the other is that they think they do.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Nigeria, the foundation for sound legal writing has never been strong. Only a negligible number of Faculties across the country teach it. Most law teachers lack the skills required to train law students\u2013even in the Law School. As a pioneer writer, teacher, and consultant on legal writing in Nigeria, Chinua Asuzu believes that \u201c\u2026this (the lack of legal-writing training) is not a recent deficiency, Nigerian lawyers at all levels (including judges, legal-department heads, partners, professors, and SANs) generally write poorly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, now you know.<\/p>\n

International best practices now require lawyers to prepare legal documents in clear language. It\u2019s high time lawyers embraced open communication with their clients. This enables lay clients, readers, or users easily access legal documents. It\u2019s important that they do. We need to realise that law is not just for lawyers alone. Law is for everyone. And it\u2019s good business to write well. Yes, it\u2019s like dressing smart.<\/p>\n

The Write House is committed to filling the writing gap in Nigerian law (I\u2019m proud to be part of that team). As Africa\u2019s frontline team of legal-writing coaches, consultants, experts, mentors, and teachers, our experience has been that lawyers, judges, and legal personnel trained in legal writing benefit immensely, career-wise. <\/p>\n

Mainly culled from The Write House Profile<\/strong>, I list 5 of these career-enhancing benefits as follows:<\/p>\n

  • Legal writing training enhances your efficiency. For organizations, legal-writing training is sound\n

    economics. It improves economies of scale by enhancing efficiency and utilization. Fewer hands will complete more <\/p>\n

    tasks in fewer hours.<\/li>\n

  • It deepens your branding, credibility, employability, and ethos. For both individual attorneys and\n

    organizations, legal-writing training deepens branding, credibility, employability, and ethos. Good writing is <\/p>\n

    directly proportional to good business manners, professional image, and brand differentiation.<\/li>\n

  • Legal-writing training helps you write clearly and effectively, commanding respect. Trainees learn to\n

    prepare legal documents in plain English, dropping the legalese and verbosity that plague much legal writing.<\/p>\n

    Refreshingly clear legal writing retains the majesty of legal language and commands the respect of modern readers.<\/li>\n

  • It improves your expressive and persuasive skills. Express yourself and persuade effectively. Our\n

    training boosts trainees\u2019 expressive capacity and persuasive force.<\/li>\n

  • It exposes you to international best practices in legal writing. Heads, HR departments, and partners in\n

    law firms and legal departments should assess writing skills of applicants for legal positions. They cannot<\/p>\n

    conduct this assessment unless they themselves are exposed to international best practices in legal writing, as<\/p>\n

    taught by The Write House.<\/li>\n

    Participate in one of our legal-writing workshops. It will enhance your career greatly. <\/p>\n

    Thank me later!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Today, there is little or nothing a lawyer can do without writing; for judges, absolutely nothing. Writing well is the most critical and yet the rarest skill in law. In his book, Legal Writing Fundamentals (2014), Chinua Asuzu, the CEO of the Write House and expert in legal writing, puts it this way: \u201cToday\u2019s legal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[112],"tags":[162,101,130,102,98],"class_list":["post-5154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-5-benefits-of-legal-writing-training","tag-lawyers","tag-legal-writing","tag-legal-writing-workshop","tag-the-write-house"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/writehouseng.com\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/writehouseng.com\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/writehouseng.com\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writehouseng.com\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writehouseng.com\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/writehouseng.com\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5154\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/writehouseng.com\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writehouseng.com\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writehouseng.com\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}