Thanks to Richard Delaney, of City University, London and his Twitter feed, I have just discovered a fantastic resource produced by Eversheds (an international law firm headquartered in London, with 45 offices in 28 countries).
The 140-page guide, entitled Legal Drafting in English: The big picture on the small print, downloadable in PDF form free of charge, is a mine of information.
The authors describe it as follows: “This Eversheds guide to legal drafting in English is not a dictionary, grammar book or academic tome. Neither is it a comprehensive look at aspects of English in a legal context. Instead, it is a pioneering attempt to provide some practical assistance to busy lawyers around the world whose native language is not English but who, in the course of their daily work, need to read, write, negotiate and converse in ‘legal English’.”
The layout is very pleasant, and the guide is full of useful nuggets such as: colorful legal phrases, new legal concepts, a bluffer’s guide to legal terms around the globe, ambiguities, a large section on false friends and another on ‘similar words’, drafting tips, as well as a useful bibliography.
It goes without saying that the guide will also be invaluable to translators, as well as to lawyers working internationally.
From Words to Deeds: translation & the law 
there seems to be no way I can download it, unfortunately. Any help? Thanks, Antonia
Hi Antonia,
It seems to be fine. Try using another browser? Also try checking whether your browser allows downloading of files.
Thank you very much, it is really very interesting and useful!
🙂
Wow, thanks for the great tip! This one is going straight to the top of my Read Next list.
Thanks Michael!
Hello there, I am so excited I found your site, I really found you by error, while I was researching on google for something else, Anyhow I am here now and would just like to say kudos for a fantastic post and a all round thrilling blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to go through it all at the moment but I have saved it and also included your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read more, Please do keep up the awesome work
Thank you! 🙂
Pingback: Weekly favorites (Oct 15-21) | Adventures in Freelance Translation
Pingback: Most read posts 2012 « From Words to Deeds: translation & the law
Pingback: Most read posts 2013 | From Words to Deeds: translation & the law