Why Words Matter in Business, Legally
If there was a quote to epitomise a lawyer’s relationship with language, it would be this one from Mark Twain:
“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”
Plenty of words can be almost right. But when you spend a good chunk of your time creating legal documents that aim to avoid ending up in front of a judge, you come to learn that there’s nothing more important than the right word.
Clarity is a personal value of mine, and words are the tool I use to make clarity happen in real life. I spoke on this topic in podcast 102: Why Words Matter, Legally—give it a listen if you prefer your word chat in the form of a soundbite. But I want to dive deeper, so let’s talk about words, and why they matter so much to me, to you, and to anyone who’s trying to communicate anything.
Psst: Good communication is more important than ever, so if you’d like to read about getting the tone right in your digital comms, check out It’s only words! | How tone and structure in emails can make a huge difference in your business relationships.
Words matter to lawyers - because words matter to everyone.
In business, setting and managing expectations with our clients is vital to serve our clients well, and build long-term, sustainable, and positive relationships.
For you, the business owner, understanding your own legal documents is crucial. You need to be able to trust they’re representing you correctly, and you may need to be able to answer questions that clients, contractors, or employees may have about them. But beyond that, the people you send those documents to need to be able to understand what they’re agreeing to: what they can expect, and what’s expected of them.
Sometimes, the meaning attached to a word can be subjective—words mean different things to different people.
It’s my job (not so much a job when you love it as much as I do - but you get the idea!) to ensure crystal clear clarity with the use of words in contracts and agreements. In this way, I position my clients to avoid ambiguity or misaligned expectations.
Words and your business documents
With the above in mind, you can imagine that a convoluted, long-winded document full of legal jargon just isn’t going to cut it. But neither is a vague, ambiguous bowl of word soup.
When I write business documents for my clients, it’s a collaborative process. Before I can make their processes and intentions clear on paper, I need to completely understand what those processes and intentions are.
But my own process aside, what do well crafted business documents really achieve?
Clarity and Avoiding Ambiguity
Now, lawyers have a bit of a reputation for using archaic language, spending a great deal of time defining what most people would probably consider commonly understood terms, and writing in a gratuitous, verbose style scornfully referred to as “legalese”.
While I can see how this has happened, and why it’s come to be this way, I just can’t agree that it’s the best way to reach our objective—which is clarity, after all.
Not only do your business documents need to clearly lay out your terms, processes, and expectations, they need to do so in a way that leaves no room for misinterpretation, enabling the reader to understand exactly what you mean—as well as what you don’t mean.
Trust, Transparency and Professionalism
I’m sure you’ll agree that an accessible, brand-aligned business document reflects more professionalism than a complicated, impenetrable one.
It shows that you care enough to make your terms easily understood, and it feels more transparent for the person reading as well. It makes you more trustworthy, because the reader won’t feel like you’re disguising anything dodgy amid a whole lot of language that nobody but a lawyer could interpret.
Want well crafted business documents with all the right words?
It sounds complex, right? But it’s really about comprehension, communication, and clarity.
I draw on my 20+ years in the law when drafting contracts and agreements: knowing how a ‘reasonable’ person is likely to interpret words and phrases, and using accompanying words and phrases to provide the clarity and direction required to avoid uncertainty and ambiguity.
I’m also fortunate to be able to draw on case law (how the courts have ruled previously) and legislation to be able to choose the words I use, and to inform the way I use them in my work.
So if you’d rather not leave your business documents open for misinterpretation, why not book a chat with me? It’s free to say hi, and for the following 20-minutes.
And if you want to get an overview of what it takes to build a small business from a legal perspective, check out my guide Building Your Small Business | The Beginners Handbook.
