3. Gender-Neutral Legal Writing

The law applies to persons, namely individuals of both sexes and a variety of entities, such as corporations.. Some laws, or statements about the law are, by their nature, capable of application to persons of one particular sex or to natural persons or legal entities.. Statements concerning the legal matters of husbands, mothers and companies are examples. The vast majority of laws, however, apply to persons who can be both men and women, and also corporations. The examples here are numerous: producer, owner, seller, employer, plaintiff, defendant, claimant, offender etc.

The issue of gender concerns the usage of personal and reflexive pronouns in legal writing works, including publications on legal matters.

The pronouns are::

he, she, him, her, his, hers, himself, herself, it, its, itself

When and how is it proper to use them?

Many just use the masculine pronouns referred to all entities and filling the blanks with "he" and "his" is acceptable and appropriate. Some writers adopt the feminine pronouns “she” and “her” as a kind of opposition to total masculine pronouns.

Sometimes the use of pronouns is balanced, for example, in one passage the judge is refered to as “he” and in another passage as “she”

Other writers set out both forms of the pronoun in a "he or she" and "him or her" kind of formulation. In some contexts these approaches may be satisfactory.

That is why some writers suggest that the reference to gendre should be avoided and gender-neutral style should be used. That means applying other grammatical forms in order to convey the idea.

Ways to apply gender-neutral style

Replace "his" with "the" or "a"

Administering justice a judge decides a case and gives his judgment.

Administering justice a judge decides a case and gives the judgment.

Use Third Person Plural Form “they” and “their”

A solicitor can speak for his client in lower courts.

Solicitors can speak for their clients in lower courts.

The use of “who” or "whose"

A business lawyer can provide expertise in finacial planning. He’ll help the client to deal with banks and trusts.

A business lawyer, who can provide expertise in finacial planning, will help the client to deal with banks and trusts.

Use the Passive Voice

At the trial the plaintiff must present his evidence of the suffered loss.

At trial the evidence of suffered loss must be presented by the plaintiff

Use "personally" where Appropriate

This liability will arise even though the owner is guilty of no wrongful act himself.

This liability will arise even though the owner is not personally guilty of a wrongful act

Use a "he or she" "his or her"

Every lawyer has his or her unique way of doing business.

A franchisor grants the rights to use his or her trademark to a franchisee.

There are other ways to deal with the pronouns to avoid the indication of gender but no definite grammar rules to do it because gender-neutral style is more ethical than language issue.

The aim of this reference is to provide the information that will help you to understand why this or that way is applied in the materials you study.

You may keep to whatever method you choose appropriate for the context, still to do so you’re supposed to read more original texts.

Example

 Lawyers must diligently represent their clients. (plural noun)

 A lawyer must diligently represent that lawyer’s client. (repeat noun)

 A lawyer must diligently represent his or her client. (his or her)

 A lawyer must diligently represent clients. (omit the pronoun)

 As a lawyer, you must diligently represent your client. (second person)

Part 2

Areas of Law

Exercise 4

1. People who have certain problems will approach a lawyer specializing in a appropriate area of law. Find a proper lawyer for a:

1. a woman who is taking care of a disabled person;

2. a businessman who has just started his own business;

3. a scientist who has developed a new medicine;

4. a driver who has had a traffic accident;

5. a businessman who is starting selling goods in Internet;

6. a family that is ready to adopt a child;

7. a store manager who was attacked by some robbers;

8. a man who has been fired without any explanation;

9. a lady who is going to buy a house;

10. a man who doesn’t want to pay taxes;

11. a bank manager who is going to open a new branch and offer new services;

12. a man who has bought some defective products

Exercise 5

Law as subjects to study:

What law subjects do you study?

What courses are you taking at the moment?

What subjects are you going to specialize in? Why?

Criminal Law	History of State and Law	Sales Law
Civil law	Theory of State and Law	Business Law
Law Enforcement bodies – Police / Militia	Legal History Russian/Foreign Legal History	Intellectual Property Law
Constitutional Law	Civil Procedure	Customs Law
Administrative Law	Criminal Procedure	Employment Law
Municipal Law	Tax Law	Family Law
Financial Law	Contract Law	Land Law

UNIT II (Part 1 and 2)

GRAMMAR

FROM http://www.law.louisville.edu/sites/www.law.louisville.edu/

© Judith D. Fischer 2007 (abridged)

The active voice

• When a sentence is in the active voice, the subject of the sentence is the actor.

• Examples:

– The police arrested the criminal.

– The lawyer argued the case.

The passive voice

• When a sentence is in the passive voice,

– The subject is the receiver of the action.

– The complete verb has at least two words. One of them is a form of “to be” (be, is, am, are, was, were, been).

• Examples:

- The criminal was arrested by the police yesterday.

- This case has been argued by his lawyer.