Plain Language for Legal Documents
Plain language in legal writing is not about dumbing things down. A well-drafted plain language document is harder to write than a document stuffed with legalese — it requires you to know exactly what you mean before you write it.
Who runs into this problem
Government agencies, nonprofits, HR departments, and in-house legal teams all produce documents that real people have to understand and act on. When those documents fail, it is usually because the drafter never stopped to ask who was reading and what that person needed to do next.
Instructor Tivka Lund has worked with federal and provincial agencies on plain language compliance for eleven years. The course draws directly from that work — real documents, real revision examples, real feedback loops.
Five sessions, one per week, each two hours long. Participants work through their own documents throughout the course.
Format note
All sessions are live and online. No pre-recorded content. Participants are expected to bring documents from their own work for the revision exercises.
Session Topics
- Session 1
- Reader-first thinking: defining your audience before you write a word
- Session 2
- Sentence structure: active voice, short sentences, verb-forward writing
- Session 3
- Word choice: replacing legal jargon without changing legal meaning
- Session 4
- Document design: headings, white space, lists — when and how to use them
- Session 5
- Revision lab: participant documents reviewed with group feedback