Useful Tips for Editing Legal Documents

A legal document cannot afford to have even the most unintentional of mistakes. A careful review of the possible errors will help spot the required corrections to ensure accuracy and credibility.

The legal profession involves drafting letters, memos, pleas and other important documents. There is no room for mistakes when it comes to legal writing. Inadvertent errors can not only impinge on the reputation and reliability of a firm but can also dilute the message of the document. On many occasions, small slip-ups have turned out to be very costly – like invalidating a contract or costing the client a lot of money. Moreover, errors and inconsistencies can make it difficult to understand the already complex information being conveyed in legal documents.

Given the importance of maintaining clarity and accuracy, legal editing becomes a crucial fragment of legal writing, to the extent that expert legal writers devote almost 35% of their time to cleaning the errors in the documents and polishing them to a shine!

The following are some useful tips for producing error-free legal documents:

• Legal editing cannot be done in one go. It calls for a layered approach of reviewing for one kind of error at a time and revising the document again and again. This kind of multi-stage examination will ensure perfection in the final product.
• The built-in spell checker and grammar checker in the word processor can serve as a rudimentary inspection before performing a more intensive deep cleaning.
• Check for basic mistakes in spelling, grammar, punctuation, syntax and formatting.
• Pay attention to the abbreviations, acronyms and other jargon. Ensure that they are clearly defined at the first instance and used consistently throughout the document.
• Focus on all names and numbers, especially dates and figures. Any tables or charts used in the document should also be accurate and clear.
• Devote a chunk of the editing time to checking the citations. They should follow the requisite format or style manual in all instances and be used appropriately. Here it is important to check the footnotes and cross-references to ensure that they point to the right information.
• Last but not least, check for long-winded and wordy sentences. Short sentences not only pack a better punch but are also easier to comprehend. Do not hesitate to break down complex sentences and even delete redundant or repetitive information.
• In addition to this, editing a printed hard copy, reading aloud and checking backwards further ensures that the writer does not miss out on any of the errors. And it remains essential to take a break from the job to avoid being overwhelmed and overlooking mistakes. Coming back with a fresh mind always works better.

A legal professional can only do so much. And it is often seen that even the most relentless checking of one’s own work can still cause some errors to slip through the cracks. Engaging a professional legal editor – like HKNETS ‒ is always a better option for ensuring consistency and accuracy in legal writing!