Plain English - l'inglese chiara

I do not know how many Italian lawyers have heard the term 'plain English', so I shall explain what it means. Well, 'plain English' is English written clearly. As one plain English advocate put it 'so your mother can understand it'. (This assumes, of course, that your dear mother is not a lawyer!)

Lawyers often forget that their clients are not always legal experts. Indeed, Italian law firms often use English as a lingua franca when dealing with non-mother tongue English clients.

Such clients will appreciate opinions and advice letters that are written in a style that avoids, wherever possible, what has come to be known as 'legalese'.

For Italian lawyers plain English is most probably easier to use than legalese, since it advocates the use of everyday words and phrases instead of complex legal phraseology. That is, words you probably already know. An other clear advanage of plain English is that it can also help you avoid ambiguity in legal documentation.

Use a plain English style and your non-mother tongue clients will be easier to work with. This means that they may well use your firm's services in the future.

Isn't that alone a good reason to encourage the use of plain English in Italy?

Now, how about a plain Italian campaign?