Cloudy Language

My friend Norman had a victory in Court the other day. The Third District Court of Appeal agreed with his client's position about a cap on damages in a medical malpractice case.

I sent the link around to my doctor friends, and Dr. Barry was amazed at the clarity of the Court's language. Essentially, they wrote their opinion in normal words --not legalese.

The Third DCA has a long reputation for this type of writing, even though they've shifted from liberal to conservative over the past 20 years or so.

It got me to thinking, though, about how little speech and writing IS clear and easily understandable, not just in law, but everywhere...

Of course, lawyers are some of the worst offenders. I'll often read letters from other lawyers and laugh out loud. Their attempts to sound scary and imposing are hilarious.

My partner is a clear offender. Most of our clients are dummies, and he has a way of speaking to them that they find impressive. But when you actually listen to what he says...

One of his favorites is telling a client "We will discuss what your case IS, as well as what it IS NOT." They nod, impressed, as if there's some deep analysis going on there.

And it works! If he said "Here's the deal..." they wouldn't think they were getting their money's worth. "What it IS and what it IS NOT" has much greater impact...

MY friends often call me for advice about how to say stuff. Last night, one particularly inarticulate fellow called because his girlfriend busted him at a hotel pool with some new hottie he was romancing...

I gave him the script: "Baby --you KNOW my weaknesses...I was seeing someone when I met you...over the past months, you've been a million miles away, so I sort some new comfort...but I KNOW I've been a major fool...what can I do to show you how sorry I am...to make this up to you..."

We'll see if this works.

So, back to the office today, for some more obfuscation and cloudiness...