Browse our list of recommended publications on plain language writing.
For a more extensive list of plain language resources, including articles from our journal Clarity, search Victoria Law Foundation’s database of plain language resources.
Australia
A Practical Guide to Drafting Pleadings
Shelley Dunstone, Law Book Company (LBC Information Services) Sydney
Clear and Precise Writing: Skills for Today’s Lawyer
Ros Macdonald and Denise Clark-Dixon, Lawbook Company, 3rd edn
Law Words: 30 essays on legal words & phrases
Edited by Mark Duckworth and Arthur Spyrou, published by the Centre for Plain Legal Language, Sydney
Plain English and the Law
Law Reform Commission of Victoria, Victorian Government Printer, Melbourne
Plain Language for Lawyers
Michele Asprey, Federation Press, 4th edn
The Elements of Drafting
E. Piesse, The Law Book Co Ltd, 10th edn, edited by J.K. Aitken and Peter Butt
The Gains from Clarity: a research report on the effects of plain language documents
Gordon Mills and Mark Duckworth, published by the Centre for Plain Legal Language, Sydney
Win More Cases: The Lawyer’s Toolkit
Published electronically by Research One Pty Ltd; see the ‘extras’ section, on writing
Writing in Plain English
Robert Eagleson, Australian Government Publishing Service
Writing at Work: How to write clearly, effectively and professionally
Dr Neil James, Allen & Unwin
Canada
A Plain Language Handbook for Legal Writers
Christine Mowat, Carswell Thomson
Legal Drafting
Robert Dick QC, Carswell, 3rd edn
Plain Language in Plain English
Cheryl Stephens
Plain Language Legal Writing
Cheryl Stephens (Kindle Edition: B002BWPCW6)
England
Clarity for Lawyers
Mark Adler and Daphne Perry, Law Society, 3rd edn
Drafting and Negotiating Commercial Leases
Murray Ross, Butterworths, 4th edn
Drafting Trusts and Will Trusts
James Kessler QC, Sweet & Maxwell, 12th edn
Fowler’s Modern English Usage
Oxford, 3rd edn (by RW Burchfield)
Lucid Law
Martin Cutts, Plain Language Commission
Modern Legal Drafting
Peter Butt, Cambridge University Press, 3rd edn
The Oxford Guide to Plain English
Martin Cutts, Oxford University Press, 4th edn
USA
A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting
by Kenneth Adams, ABA Press, 2nd edn
Clear & Effective Legal Writing
Veda Charrow and Myra Erhardt, Little, Brown & Co, 5th edn
Drafting Legal Documents
Barbara Child, West, 2nd edn
Garner’s Dictionary of Legal Usage
Bryan Garner, Oxford University Press, 3rd edn
Federal Plain Language Guidelines
Plain Language Action and Information Network (PLAIN)
How to Write Plain English
Rudolph Flesch, HarperCollins
Legal Language
Peter Tiersma, University of Chicago Press
Legal Writing: Sense and Nonsense
David Mellinkoff, West Publishing
Lifting the Fog of Legalese
Joseph Kimble, Carolina Academic Press
Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges
Antonin Scalia and Bryan Garner
On Writing Well
William Zinsser, HarperCollins, 9th ed
Plain English for Lawyers
Richard Wydick, Carolina Academic Press, 5th edn
The Elements of Legal Style
Bryan Garner, Oxford University Press, 2nd edn
The Fundamentals of Legal Drafting
Reed Dickerson, Little, Brown & Co, 2nd ed
The Language of the Law
David Mellinkoff
The Legal Writer: 40 Rules for the Art of Legal Writing
Judge Mark Painter, Cincinnati Book Publishing, 4th edn
The Winning Brief
Bryan Garner, Oxford University Press, 3rd edn
Writing Contracts in Plain English
Carl Felsenfeld and Alan Siegel, West Publishing
Writing for Dollars, Writing to Please: The Case for Plain Language in Business, Government, and Law
Joseph Kimble, Carolina Academic Press