Why every law firm should have a writing style guide

Few law firms have a writing style guide even though they make their living from the use of words. I think they should.

If you go onto the legal update pages of any law firm’s website, I can almost guarantee you will find inconsistencies in spelling and grammar, the way quotes are presented and the use of capitals. For example, on some pages, the word “Claimant” will be capitalised, on others, it won’t. Judges will sometimes be referred to by their full title, (“Mr Justice Smith), in other instances, they’ll be plain old “Smith J”.  

Does this matter? 

That depends on the image the firm wants to put across. Most firms “pride” themselves on their professionalism and this flies in the face of that. (As for priding themselves about anything, I’ll deal with that below under clichés.)

Lawyers spend their days arguing about the meaning of words. So, it isn’t too much to expect accuracy and consistency in the words they put on their website and in their publications. Professionalism, in other words. 

What is a style guide?

A style guide is the writing version of a firm’s brand style book. Firms will usually go to great lengths to specify how much space there should be around their logo and which fonts are to be used, but will often say nothing about how they communicate the written word.

This is especially important given that most firms’ content comes from a variety of people, such as paralegals, trainees, lawyers and members of the marketing team.

A writing style guide sets out how things such as dates, numbers, names, titles and money are expressed. It also contains rules for grammar and punctuation.

Even the most basic things should be explained. Is the firm referred to in the singular (“Smith & Jones is…”) or the plural (“Smith & Jones are…”)? It’s amazing how many firms don’t seem to have decided, or if they have, haven’t told their staff.

Are quotes put in italics? And for that matter, is the firm’s style to use single quotation marks or double quotation marks?

What’s the position on the use of acronyms? Some writers litter their copy with TLAs (sorry, three-letter acronyms) without bothering to spell them out on first use. What the firm’s policy?

Writing principles

This brings us onto another purpose of a style guide. It should also specify writing principles to ensure there is consistency in tone and style. A law firm may want to state in its style guide, for example, that language should be used in a straightforward manner, and that the reader should be treated with respect and not patronised. It may want to encourage writers to use the active voice and avoid slang and jargon. 

Ideally, it should warn against the use of clichés, as the Telegraph does in its style guide: “They cripple news stories with their tiredness and the laziness with which they are used. Fashionable phrases rarely have a usefulness that lasts more than a few weeks.” 

In the context of law firms, I would include under the cliché category being “passionate” about things, and “priding” themselves on anything at all, especially “putting clients first”. Avoid them like the plague. (That’s a joke, by the way.)

Lawyers should write in English and not in Latin, but it’s worth spelling out even though res ipsa loquitur. (Another joke, this time for the lawyers. It means “the thing speaks for itself”.)

Firms may also want to list banned words and phrases, especially if they are relevant to one of its specialisms. Personal injury firms may wish to avoid referring to people as “disabled” or “handicapped” or saying someone is a “victim”.  

Perhaps the best lesson lawyers can learn is to never take the reader’s understanding of a subject for granted. It is never insulting to explain things simply and logically. The Telegraph advises writers to “assume that the reader has been on a desert island, without the benefit of media”. I would add, “and without the benefit of a detailed knowledge of the writer’s specialist area of law”. 

How to write a style guide and how to use it

Style guides can be found online, and the Guardian and Telegraph are both useful resources. I would suggest law firms produce their own, taking into account matters relevant to the firm, its clients and the types of work it does.

Then, crucially, the firm needs to do two other things. First, tell its staff about it (in house sessions are a useful way to do this) and second, police it. This is usually done by a member of the marketing team or a particularly fastidious partner. This may be tedious at first, but in my experience it is the only way to erase the annoying inconsistencies, such as random capitalisations and the misuse of acronyms, that plague so many websites.

If you would like help producing a style guide for your law firm, please contact me at simon@inkanddots.co.uk.