3 powerful strategies for lawyers to simplify legalese

What you can do to remove legalese from your legal work – Legal Design IRL: Episode 38 

Let’s talk about legal language. Legal jargon. Legal lingo. Legalese. The words that repel our clients.

Before we start, please allow me to introduce myself. I’m Hannele Korhonen, founder of Lawyers Design School and host of Legal Design IRL. In this weekly series, I talk with legal design experts using legal and contract design in real life. This week I’m talking about how you can simplify legalese in your work.

When I ask everyday people what comes to mind when they think about lawyers these words always pop up: Complicated language. Big words. Boring.

I love words, I love writing. And I love people and connecting with them with words. Simplifying legalese in legal documents is a way of connecting people through words.

So let’s see what we can do about removing legal jargon – because we definitely can – and we should – if we want our work as lawyers to have an impact and value for our clients.

3 simple strategies to remove the legal jargon in your legal work

Tune in and learn 

• What legalese looks like and how it damaging it can be to client relationships 
• How to use designerly lawyer thinking to communicate like a human 
• How to communicate with clarity
• Why tone of voice is fundamental to ending legal-speak
• Why relevance is your legalese benchmark
• Why you should embrace plain language in your legal work

Legal design thinking: IRL. Episode 38

If you enjoyed the talk, you can join me live every Wednesday at 8 am ET on LinkedIn. The chat is open and you can ask questions. 

I help lawyers and law firm owners navigate the transformation from traditional law to a customer-centric approach to law. Our clients are demanding it. You’ll get actionable tips and real-life demonstrations of legal design thinking in action that demonstrate how the legal landscape is changing – and why you don’t want to be left behind. Our clients are demanding it. 

If you’re new to legal design, start here. If you’re new to contract design and simplification start here. 

One last thing

If you’re feeling like you don’t fit in the traditional mold of a lawyer and you’re frustrated about it – I get it. I was the same.

I’ve created one helpful resource for you. It’s a designerly lawyer superpower quiz to help you tap into the amazing skills you have. Traditional law doesn’t value them, but designerly lawyers (and your clients) do. The traits you want to use in your work (but hide instead), are the traits that make you stand out. Things like practicality, visuality and creativity –  they are your superpowers. 

So I want you to discover your superpower and unleash that on the world. There’s so much change coming and you’re the perfect candidate to be part of the change. Let’s get unstuck together. 

You can catch a replay of episode 38  Legal Design Thinking: IRL or join me live next week and ask questions. 

Want to chat about it?

Follow me at @lawyersdesignschool for more tips and tools.

Prefer email? Drop me an email at [email protected]. And while you’re here, take a peek at the Lawyers Design School and check out other ways to use legal design thinking to grow your law firm and thrive in your business.

Watch all the Legal Design IRL Episodes episodes.