Legal Documents Editing and Proofreading Services
Legal documents are essential where two or more parties wish to get into an agreement. They bear signatures from both parties as a sign of confirmation and acceptance of the agreement at the end of the document. The scope of a legal document depends on its type and purpose. There are many legal documents across the globe that are used depending on the target audience, case, situation, and purpose. Legal writing may be instruments that grant a right, pleading by a party in the course of litigation, and other documents relevant for legal use.
In the current society, the use of technology and digitalization of operations has helped legal practitioners and law students to adjust their practice to optimally meet clients’ needs while maximizing revenue and enhancing writing skills respectively. The Recent Legal Trends Report showed that law firms using various types of technology received 39% more revenue per lawyer compared to those that were not. The pandemic has caused clients to be more accustomed to technology and are now preferring more technology-enabled legal terms of service.
According to the report, 58% of the clients said technology was more important in the current situation than before the pandemic, with 69% of them preferring electronic sharing of documents. Moreover, 56% of the clients prefer meeting face-to-face through a video call without having to leave their homes. The technological advancements and changes in client preferences have also led to the advantage of paperless workflows, creation and signing of documents online. The turnaround time has now been shortened and security of legal documents enhanced.
Despite the advancement in technology, succeeding in the legal world is highly dependent on how well and effectively one can communicate, hence, the need for legal document editing and proofreading services. These services are offered by expert editors with legal background to enhance the effectiveness of a well-written legal document in conveying the message.
Whether pleading to a trial, making a deposition, negotiating, or entering into a legal contract, there is a need to ensure clarity in communication by making the involved legal documents error free, readable, and comprehensible. To achieve this, the information on the factors we consider when editing and proofreading a legal document provided in this article can be helpful. Every word matters in the legal world and everyone must strive to ensure clarity and accuracy of information to avoid misinterpretation and misunderstanding.
The Factors We Consider When Editing and Proofreading Legal Documents
Senior lawyers produce contracts, briefs, letters, pleadings, and many other documents essential to their jobs on a daily basis. Research published in 2016 showed that on average, lawyers would write and receive 70 documents per day, translating to almost 26,000 per annum. This was a great increase from the almost 18000 documents that a lawyer would handle back in 2013. The documents must be clear and precise, which can be achieved by hiring professional legal document editors. Utmost accuracy and flawless grammar are essential because errors, mistakes, and inconsistencies not only put the professional reputation and credibility of the legal firm in jeopardy but also the lives and livelihoods of clients.
Though the legal editing services may be time-consuming because of the complex and detailed information involved, our subject matter experts are always ready and glad to help. One can access our legal editors through the websites and online channels. We dedicate adequate time for effective content editing and proofreading services that the client can rest assured of high quality service that give more confidence in their legal documents.
The following are some of the factors our legal proofreading and editing experts consider to deliver excellent work to the clients.
1. Purpose of the document
Understanding the purpose of the document is essential before commencing the legal proofreading and editing service. Our legal editors must first understand the reasons for the existence of the document, what should be accomplished with it, and the anticipated outcomes; giving one a clear basis for evaluating the content, structure, tone, and voice of the legal document objectively.
2. Target audience
There are different audiences for legal documents, including judges, attorneys, junior attorneys, and clients whose experiences and expectations may influence how they read and interpret legal writing. One should present their legal documents in a professional and formal manner while avoiding unnecessary details. Even as we offer legal document editing and proofreading services, our editors must have a clear understanding of the audiences' details such as age, income, educational status, values, economic status, knowledge, and experience on the subject matter.
Understanding the nature of audience is essential in legal proofreading services to effectively evaluate suitability of the tone, style, content, language, and all the relevant details that can influence how the reader understands the message. It also helps in enhancing the clarity and concision of information conveyed through the various legal documents.
3. Legalese, jargon, and commentary
Legal documents are characterized by direct language, simple, and short sentences made of terms and words that a layman can understand. Though some industry jargon and terminologies may not be completely avoidable in the legal field, one should ensure they are used only when necessary and unavoidable. Writing in plain language without unnecessary complex information enhances understanding of the different cases presented in legal writing because clients prefer reading documents that they are able to understand and correctly interpret on their own without seeking help to comprehend.
4. Accuracy of information
Inaccuracies can greatly affect the legitimacy and validity of the legal document by creating doubts among the readers. Our Legal editing and proofreading experts review the documents to ensure all the information is true, with every detail thoroughly scrutinized before the decision to publish legal documents. Important numbers and names should be accurately written with any footnotes and cross-references used in the legal documents directing the reader to the right information. Maintaining absolute accuracy leaves no room for misinterpretation, ensuring that the message is conveyed in a clear, simple, and concise manner.
5. Structure of the legal document
When editing a legal document for structure, the professional editor evaluates how the headings and subheadings are used in the document to make it readable and memorable. By having a subtly inspiring and encouraging heading, one may persuade the readers to adopt their position in the case. It is also an effective way of giving a captivating impression of the document and visually representing the sections.
6. Writing style
Professional legal document editors should first seek to know and understand any preferences or style guidelines given by the client or the law firm when editing the document for style. Different companies and entities prefer being unique in writing their legal documents; in terms of fonts, font sizes, line and paragraph spacing, boldface, or italicizing.
Inconsistencies in style may arise where more than one individual is involved in writing the document, or when one is not aware of the company’s unique style preferences. Understanding the needs and preferences of the client gives the basis for style-editing the document. If no specifications are given, our editors follow guidelines given in the Law Dictionary and other books used in the legal practice as points of reference, making the final copy flawless and devoid of inconsistencies.
7. Punctuation mistakes
Punctuation marks have the potential to cause misunderstanding, misinterpretation, and confusion on the message if misused, misplaced, or missed out. Use of hyphenation, paired punctuation such as enclosed quotes and parentheses; and consistent marks such as the oxford comma and punctuation marks after bullets, should be correct throughout the document to maintain consistency.
The seriousness of punctuation can be illustrated in a 2017 case of a missed oxford comma, handled at the United States Court of Appeal. According to the dispute, the missing oxford comma caused a lot of uncertainties on the side of marine truck drivers and had to be settled by ordering the Marine company to pay them $5 million. Omitting or misplacing a simple punctuation mark can be costly in writing, especially in legal documents where people’s lives, projects, careers, reputations, and properties are involved. Hiring a person to edit and proofread a legal document after writing the first draft can be effective, time, and effort saving. The experts have an eye for the finest details and can sense when punctuation marks are missing or incorrectly used.
8. Grammar and word usage
Correct grammar and usage are imperative to avoid confusion in legal writing. Grammatical errors distract the reader, interfere with the meaning, and leave the legal writing susceptible to misinterpretation. When one decides to hire a person to edit and proofread a legal document on their behalf, they should consider getting someone who has excellent command of the English language, grammar, and usage to enable them detect mistakes related to the use of language and word choice Legal documents have to be optimally correct to avoid being misinterpreted to cause misunderstandings that can lead to inappropriate actions and serious damages.
9. Clarity and precision of information
We review the document for comprehension and clarity of the information being conveyed. Being clear is essential in legal matters and every document must say only what it is meant to. Our legal proofreading and editing services ensure that the target audience can easily understand the document without an interpreter. Clarity and precision are a requirement for every sentence, paragraph, section, and entire writing. The transition between sentences and paragraphs should be logical to enable readers to follow the message seamlessly without being left to guess the reasons for having certain statements in the legal document.
10. Length and structure of sentences
Long sentences and paragraphs may confuse the reader and make it difficult to understand the message. During legal editing, we ensure that the language and words used are articulated to bring out a clear syntax that conveys the message in a polite and brief manner. Short sentences are simple to read and interpret. Because of the complexity of legal documents, we are keen to ensure sentences are short, clear, and direct to the point to avoid confusing readers by finding a way of breaking long sentences without changing the meaning.
11. Consistency
For clarity purposes in legal documents, it is important to be consistent in all aspects of writing and referring to things in a way that is effective in helping readers understand the document. Our legal proofreading services review the writing to ensure consistency in all defined terms and the style in which they are written; either bolded, capitalized, or italicized.
12. Missing words
Accidental omission of words leads to incomplete sentences. An incomplete sentence may not convey the required message. Our professional legal document editors are able to detect omissions by reading the document aloud. The brain has the tendency of filling in gaps when reading silently and some errors may be missed out. However, reading aloud gives one an opportunity to hear what sounds amiss, making it possible to make amends and fill gaps before the document reaches the target audience.
13. Power of attorney
Legal documents that require signatories and in circumstances that force someone to sign for another, the appropriate power of attorney must be produced. As a professional editor in such a situation, one has to confirm the validity and reliability of the power of the attorney by inspecting and scrutinizing the copy to be sure that it is not fake or forged to facilitate a fraudulent transaction. The signatory must have the necessary authority to sign the documents.
14. Dating of the document
Legal documents may not be valid until they bear a date. If there are several copies of the same document, we make sure that they have the same date. In case the legal document is in the form of a contract binding two or more parties, we also ensure that the dates written are in the future rather than the past. The date may appear next to the parties’ signatures, depending on the type of legal document in question.
15. Overall organization of the legal document
When writing a legal document, it is important to be organized from the beginning by creating an outline of ideas, thoughts, and major points to be included in the entire writing. We ensure that each paragraph addresses a specific idea, making the document easier to understand. Facts should be organized and stated clearly with precision rather than giving general information with the introduction, body, and the conclusion linked by a common theme.
16. Honesty and integrity
To maintain credibility and protect one’s reputation, legal documents require utmost good faith and disclosure of facts as they are without manipulation or prejudice. If something is not true, it should not be said to be true in favor of someone, something, or some outcome. Honesty and integrity are essential values in legal practice to avoid misrepresentation of events that may conceal and deny justice.
17. Context and focus of the content
Our legal document editing and proofreading services help in evaluating the focus of the document. The content ought to be contextualized and focused on the specific issue so that the reader can clearly understand what exactly is being conveyed through the legal document without being distracted by irrelevant and unnecessary information and details. The context of the document’s content should be precise so that the target audience can follow through with all the occurrences that may have necessitated such a document.
18. Accessibility of information within the document
Some legal documents may be too long, time-consuming, and cumbersome to read. Our expert editors confirm whether important sections are defined to make it easier for readers to reference when necessary; with the use of tags or reference points suitable and relevant in directing the audience to various sections containing important details within the legal document.
Addressing the above factors and any other in the context of one’s situation can be helpful in ensuring that legal documents are professionally written, better organized, and enhanced in overall quality compared to those that are not edited. The factors may vary with documents and purposes. Reading this article is beneficial for both in-house company legal documents writers and professional editing entities. Every word, phrase, paragraph, section, and the entire legal document content should be carefully evaluated and scrutinized for the factors discussed to ensure no error or inconsistency is found in the final copy of the writing.
The complexity of legal documents requires thorough editing and proofreading to ensure utmost clarity, readability, and comprehensibility of the message they convey. Legal entities and firms should consider investing in buying legal document editing and proofreading from professionals. The fact that people’s lives and properties are involved in the legal industry calls for serious reviews, revisions, and rewriting before presenting the documents to the target audience.
Our editing professionals have the know-how, experience, and specialization in the legal document editing industry to guarantee the client of the best legal document editing and proofreading service. We are familiar with the explicit style requirements from the different manuals in the legal industry to ensure the documents are strictly compliant. Therefore, after writing the first draft of a legal document, one should save themselves time and effort by hiring a professional to edit and proofread, or buying legal document editing and proofreading services from credible companies with proven track record in the industry.