Are lawyers human?

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An article at ProBlogger.com encourages us to “sound more human” in our writing and offers 10 tips for doing that.

“Use more contractions” is good advice for lawyers who tend to write more formally than most humans. Same goes for “Use shorter, simpler, clearer words.”

Indubitably.

Also important for lawyers is to avoid using jargon. Don’t “tortuously interfere” with someone when you can simply trash talk them.

We’re told to proofread before we publish, and that’s always sound advice. Many of us also benefit by using a grammar checker like Grammarly or ProWritingAid (the one I prefer).

There’s some important advice about putting ourselves in our reader’s shoes and making them the focus of our writing. As the author says, he is often told, “I feel like you’re writing to me,” meaning he’s doing it right.

I like the idea of creating a style guide, to standardize spelling, capitalization, localizations, formatting, etc., so your writing is consistent.

I like the idea, but I’ve never done it and probably never will. I kinda like being random.

The final tip is something I can’t abide: “Don’t be snarky”.

I’d never write anything if I I followed that one.

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