Legal Writing

An amazing fact about modern business is that some of the same people who like to think of themselves as on the cutting edge of technology still write the way people talked 200 years ago. They choose words that people haven't said to each other since they stopped wearing powdered wigs. When was the last time you heard a coworker say, "Pursuant to your recent inquiry"?

Malcolm Forbes called it as he saw it:

Business jargon too often is cold, stiff, unnatural. Suppose I came up to you and said, "I acknowledge receipt of your letter, and I beg to thank you." You'd think, "Huh?"

This week, as you revise, ask yourself, "Is this something people would actually say to each other?" If not, lose the powdered wig and bring your writing up to date.