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PERSONAL PICK: Expunge the Legalese in Me...


I am currently attending a Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE)classes to complete my Compliance 3 which ended last April 14, 2010. Yea, I am late and cramming! But after this Series 49 (a full package of 36 units with Legal Advantage plus 4 units on Legal Ethics with Chan Robles Lawnet, MCLE providers), I will have 23 units credited for MCLE 4 and only need 13 units until April 14, 2013.

MCLE is a continuing legal education required of members of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) to complete at least thirty-six (36) hours of legal education activities every three (3) years.

The first session of Legal Advantage Series 49 is on Legal Writing and Oral Advocacy which is a part of my lacking units for MCLE 3. Atty. Rose Marie King - Dominguez, a partner of SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan is the lecturer. She said that effective legal writing must be clear and useful which means discarding the "legalese".

Legalese is a law jargon, a language that is typically used in legal documents and is generally considered by lay people to be difficult to understand. Looking at the blog "Party of the First Part", I guess I am guilty as charged! In contracts I still use some legalese like:

 ab initio - use "from the beginning"
Null and void - use "ineffective, cancelled"
Know All Men By These Presents - remove it. it simply means "look out here comes a legal document".
Witnesseth - remove it.

 For a complete list of legalese,checkout the blog "Party of the First Part" which in itsef is a legalese.
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Comments

MheAnne said…
hmmm.nice thoughts to think about. thanks
May 31, 2010 at 3:51 PM
Atty. Arlyn T. Corro said…
atty. mhe ann. i hope you will discuss something on the law on anti wire tapping.

just a query: if 2 persons are shouting in public and the person who witness their shouting recorded it, can the said recording be used as evidence against the other person?
June 2, 2010 at 7:05 AM
MheAnne said…
Hello Atty.Arlyn.Thank you for your query and your suggestion.I actually just write about my experience and since I am not really a criminal law practitioner I would not know much about the Anti-Wire Tapping Law. There was,however,an instance I was asked by clienta but surveillance cameras and I mentioned about the Anti-Wire Tapping Law. It's on my October 30,2009 Blog Entry.

As regards your query, I would say that the recording is admissible. The Anti Wire Tapping provides "It shall also be unlawful for any person, be he a participant or not in the act or acts penalized in the next preceding sentence, to knowingly possess any tape record, wire record, disc record, or any other such record, or copies thereof, of any communication or spoken word secured either before or after the effective date of this Act in the manner prohibited by this law; or to replay the same for any other person or persons; or to communicate the contents thereof, either verbally or in writing, or to furnish transcriptions thereof, whether complete or partial, to any other person: Provided, That the use of such record or any copies thereof as evidence in any civil, criminal investigation or trial of offenses mentioned in Sec. 3 hereof, shall not be covered by this prohibition."
June 5, 2010 at 3:54 PM
MheAnne said…
Hello Atty.Arlyn.Thank you for your query and your suggestion.I actually just write about my experience and since I am not really a criminal law practitioner I would not know much about the Anti-Wire Tapping Law. There was,however,an instance I was asked by client about surveillance cameras and touched some provisions of the Anti-Wire Tapping Law. It's on my October 30,2009 Blog Entry.

As regards your query, I would say that the recording is admissible. The Anti Wire Tapping provides "It shall also be unlawful for any person, be he a participant or not in the act or acts penalized in the next preceding sentence, to knowingly possess any tape record, wire record, disc record, or any other such record, or copies thereof, of any communication or spoken word secured either before or after the effective date of this Act in the manner prohibited by this law; or to replay the same for any other person or persons; or to communicate the contents thereof, either verbally or in writing, or to furnish transcriptions thereof, whether complete or partial, to any other person: Provided, That the use of such record or any copies thereof as evidence in any civil, criminal investigation or trial of offenses mentioned in Sec. 3 hereof, shall not be covered by this prohibition."
June 5, 2010 at 3:55 PM
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