With this week’s release of the 2008 edition of O’Connor’s Texas Causes of Action Pleadings, I was reminded of an excellent note written by Kevin Collins in the Spring 2005 edition of the Review of Litigation. In the note, titled “The Use of Plain-Language Principles in Texas Litigation Formbooks,” Mr. Collins analyzes the plain-language movement and evaluates four popular Texas forms books, including O’Connor’s Texas Civil Forms, based on a model he created (i.e., the Plain English and Exoteric Readability (PEER) review) to test publishers’ “plain-language” claims. Rating O’Connor’s the best, here’s what he had to say:
The survey results, evaluation of Texas formbooks, and interview [with Professor William Dorsaneo] suggest that there is a slow shift toward litigators’ writing more plainly. Survey respondents stated that they relied on formbooks. Three of the four Texas formbooks market their material as plain-language products. At least one of those formbooks—O’Connor’s—actually does avoid unnecessary legalese.
For over 15 years, we’ve been leading the charge to bring clarity to legal writing, not only in our forms products, but in our codes and commentaries products as well. If you haven’t used one of our forms products, I would encourage you to try them out. I think you’ll find them much easier to use and understand.
