Anyone have a link to a good guide for English legalese grammar? Thread poster: Adieu
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Adieu 
Ukrainian to English
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I got hired to review/verify a translation of a contract. Terminology use and accuracy are REALLY good (I'm shocked - this client usually sends out total crap for revision). Most of the few changes I'm tempted to make are grammatical.
However, I googled a few of those grammatically suspect strings and found lots of other instances of similar wording used. Hard to tell if it is just others repeating the same errors or a grammatical convention in legalese.
Please recommen... See more I got hired to review/verify a translation of a contract. Terminology use and accuracy are REALLY good (I'm shocked - this client usually sends out total crap for revision). Most of the few changes I'm tempted to make are grammatical.
However, I googled a few of those grammatically suspect strings and found lots of other instances of similar wording used. Hard to tell if it is just others repeating the same errors or a grammatical convention in legalese.
Please recommend good guides on US English legalese or sources of highly polished examples of US English contracts that are beyond reproach. Thanks. ▲ Collapse
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Adieu
Ukrainian to English
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TOPIC STARTER
Anything about key differences in UK and US English legalese would be much appreciated.
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John Fossey
Canada
Local time: 19:39
Member (2008)
French to English
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| Depends on the jurisdiction | Sep 2, 2021 |
I suppose part of the problem with this is that every jurisdiction - every country and every province/state/region within a country - has its own legal customs and jargon.
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Adieu
Ukrainian to English
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TOPIC STARTER | US English terminology | Sep 2, 2021 |
It's for reference, the actual contract to be signed is in the source language
One of the problems I expect to run into is that the translator may have mixed terminology from different legal traditions, which wouldn't be immediately obvious without a good cheat sheet on US contract law
John Fossey wrote:
I suppose part of the problem with this is that every jurisdiction - every country and every province/state/region within a country - has its own legal customs and jargon.
[Edited at 2021-09-02 21:24 GMT]
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| The big corps | Sep 2, 2021 |
Adieu wrote:
Please recommend good guides on US English legalese or sources of highly polished examples of US English contracts that are beyond reproach. Thanks.
Can't help with the former, but if you can get copies of contracts from mega US corporations like Google, Apple, Facebook and Disney, those have been looked over by an army or two of experienced and well-paid lawyers so they're as close to "highly polished" as anything can get.
Example: https://corporate.findlaw.com/contracts/compensation/employment-agreement-the-walt-disney-co-and-robert-a-iger.html
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Firstly, given that there a zillions of volumes out there on contract drafting, I doubt your search will be successful.
Secondly, there is a difference between legalese and ungrammatical writing.
If you trust your grip on grammar, by all means fix what is clearly and incontrovertibly ungrammatical.
But I would recommend against changing anything else. If you are challenged to make your case for any of your changes, “I found it on the Internet” won’t wash. When reviewing... See more Firstly, given that there a zillions of volumes out there on contract drafting, I doubt your search will be successful.
Secondly, there is a difference between legalese and ungrammatical writing.
If you trust your grip on grammar, by all means fix what is clearly and incontrovertibly ungrammatical.
But I would recommend against changing anything else. If you are challenged to make your case for any of your changes, “I found it on the Internet” won’t wash. When reviewing legal documents, let caution be your best friend.
As an afterthought, I take it that you are not performing a legal review in the capacity of a lawyer. An assessment of the appropriateness of the terminology used would be a lawyer's job.
[Edited at 2021-09-03 03:20 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Adieu
Ukrainian to English
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TOPIC STARTER
I found the template/master file this thing was made from. All the grammar oddities are from the original "source of the source".
Looks like I just need to carefully read 100 pages for deviations from the source material and check for correct back-translation thereof.
Thank G-d for multiple monitors.
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neilmac
Spain
Local time: 01:39
Spanish to English
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| Is there a difference? | Sep 12, 2021 |
I don't know whether there is a specific grammar for legal texts, but I've always just assumed that general English grammar rules would prevail. There is a certain flexibility to most grammar rules anyway. However, if there are any differences that are actually grammatical, it would be interesting to see some examples.
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Adieu
Ukrainian to English
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TOPIC STARTER
The combination of odd vocabulary and habitually ignored rules makes for some VERY wrong-looking staple phrases.
neilmac wrote:
I don't know whether there is a specific grammar for legal texts, but I've always just assumed that general English grammar rules would prevail. There is a certain flexibility to most grammar rules anyway. However, if there are any differences that are actually grammatical, it would be interesting to see some examples.
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| Bad writing is bad writing | Sep 13, 2021 |
Many lawyers, like estate agents, have a language and a grammar of their own, but this just marks them down as second-rate and is not to be emulated. Hence things like the Plain English campaign.
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