Home Legalese Hall of Shame What does it mean? Can I write plain English? Who is The Party of the First Part? Read an excerpt
The Party of the First Part. Adventures in Legalese. For better or worse, the instruction manual for today's world is written by laywers. Now comes a website for everyone befuddled, enraged, or intrigued by legalese -- yes, even lawyers.
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Estate Planning, in English, please
Something about estate planning brings out the worst in lawyers -- linguistically speaking. Although attorneys can usually bring themselves to discuss contracts and torts in terms that approach English, something about wills and trusts makes lawyers long to bequeath their chattels real to the aforesaid residuary beneficiaries. In 2000, an Englishman named John Middleton struck a blow against legalese when he refused to pay the fees for 14-page will that was absolutely impenetrable. In another small step toward clarity, the Pacific Life Insurance Company recently announced a set of "Plain English" estate planning materials. Although POTFP has not yet seen the materials - and no doubt it is partly a marketing tool for Pacific Life - one can hardly oppose any effort to get people talking plainly about estate planning.

Read the rest — and post comments — at
The Party of the First Part blog.

You can also find past Legal Lingo columns (since 2002), observations on legal language, and news from the eternal struggle between plain English and "Precision" English at
The Party of the First Part blog.
The Party of the First Part -- the book!
Read an excerpt
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 Who is The Party of the First Part?
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What? All this and podcasts too?

Now you can have adventures in legalese everywhere you go -- with the Party of the First Part PODCASTS! A series of original podcasts is available for free (!) oniTunes, or Odeo, Podcast Alley, Podfeed, or your other favorite podcast source.



What does it mean?

 Witnesseth? Aforesaid? Quash that subpoena ab initio? Ask POFP for a translation of your favorite drivel and/or check out our A – Z glossary of legal terms already defined by our panel of distinguished experts.
Word of the week:
Coparcenary: Co-ownership of property by two or more individuals who inherited it jointly under the laws of intestate succession. The word derives from the Anglo-Norman parcenerie and Old French parsonerie, both meaning "partnership."<

Read the rest — and post comments — at
The Party of the First Part blog.

The Legalese Hall of Shame

POFP points the Fickle Finger of Fate at some real-life gobbledygook — from insurance contracts, jury instructions, and other literary gems (with translations).  Read more

Submit your own favorite legalese to the LEGALESE HALL OF SHAME - email your entry to adamjfreedman@yahoo.com . If your entry is suitably bad, we'll post it to the Hall of Shame! (Limit one offer per customer, void where prohibited, and so on)
Can I write plain English?

Of course you can. POFP shows you how.