Legal Writing

Why Attorneys Need Editors

Current events — that’s what people are interested in. And the news that California is, once again, issuing IOUs in place of checks means it’s high time for a law firm to issue a client alert about registered warrants.

Here’s the intro to a client alert published by Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman:

The State of California normally pays its obligations with regular warrants issued by the State Controller’s office, which are akin to checks and are payable on presentment to the State Treasurer’s office.

There’s a problem. The relative clause (after the comma) is supposed to modify “regular warrants,” but the author put it in the wrong place. Where he put it, it modifies “the State Controller’s office.”

This is an example of the misplaced modifier.

Note: In the hands of an attorney drafting an important contract, these things can bring disaster.

Had an editor touched it, the intro might have turned out like so:

The State of California normally pays its obligations with regular warrants issued by the State Controller’s office. These warrants are akin to checks and are payable on presentment to the State Treasurer’s office.

Had that editor the freedom to make the author look good (to busy readers who value their time and who don’t like attorneys to waste it), it might have turned out like this:

The State of California normally pays its obligations with regular warrants, which are like checks.

Full post as published by Set in Style on July 07, 2009 (boomark / email).