Episode 55: Interview – Simon Porter discussing legalese – hereby, whereby, therefor, hereinafter

I managed to interview Simon Porter founder of Written Legal English when I was in Poland for the Legal English Share and Gain Conference 2018. Here we catch up in ‘Chopin Point Cafe‘ in Warsaw to talk about improving legal writing and drafting.

We discuss specific legalese words such as ‘herein’, ‘therefor’, ‘hereby’, ‘whereby’, ‘hereinafter’, ‘thereinafter’, ‘wheretofore’, ‘heretofore’. Simon explains what these words mean and how to use (or not!) them. We also touch on legal terms of art and Ken Adams’ idea of ‘language of performance’ and ‘speech acts’ and we talk about whether to use ‘shall’ or not to express obligations in contracts.

Be sure to check out his great website and YouTube channel!

If you enjoyed the show share it and leave a comment below. You can also send a comment via email to:

 Louise@studylegalenglish.com.

Some helpful books for drafting clear contracts are:

• Ken Adams ‘Manual of Style for Contract Drafting’ or his blog 
• Tina Stark ‘Drafting Contracts: How and Why Lawyers Do What They Do’
• Cynthia Adams & Peter Cramer ‘Drafting Contracts in Legal English’