Here’s Why it’s so Hard to Understand Legalese

Let’s be honest: legalese is basically a foreign language. 

I know the words it uses are technically “English” words. But those “English” words can have different meanings in legalese. 

And the rules that govern sentence structure in regular English don’t really seem to apply in legalese. For example, the clause “As mentioned above” in English translates to “As hitherto contained in the sections proceeding” in legalese.

Legalese and English are not same, same.

And if you treat them that way, you’ll continue to be more confused than ever. It’s kind of like thinking you can get by speaking Spanish in Italy. Some of the words overlap, but at the end of the day, it’s a completely different language. 

If you shift your perspective to think about legalese as a foreign language instead of a form of English, then it probably becomes pretty clear almost immediately that in order to understand legalese, you’ll actually need to practice it. 

But here’s a question:how the hell do you practice legalese without being a lawyer?

Exactly. So for the sake of exercise (and for helping you understand exactly why legalese is so confusing), let’s explore how we traditionally approach learning a language. 

Based on memory from college and high school Spanish, here are 3 things you need to learn a foreign language: 

#1: You need to learn the vocabulary. You need to have a basic foundation of commonly used words in the language you’re trying to learn. This is tricky to do when it comes to legalese. I remember people recommending that I buy a Black’s Law Dictionary to look up legal words I didn’t know during my first semester of law school. I opted not to. Not because I didn’t think I needed it, but because I went to the library to consult the said dictionary and found the definitions only made me more confused.

So no, to my knowledge, there’s not a convenient legalese dictionary you can buy that will help you look up the meaning of words you don’t know so you can start to build up a vocabulary. 

That’s problem #1. Here’s problem #2.

#2: You need consistent opportunities to practice speaking, writing, and reading the language. The repetition helps you build the neural pathways in your brain so they start to fire automatically and before you know it, you’re speaking the language effortlessly without having to think through each word. 

Essentially, we need Duloingo for legalese, but that doesn’t exist. And as far as I know, people aren’t creating meetups to practice speaking legalese to each other. 

Why? Because that would be a total snoozefest. 

So just to recap, there aren’t any good resources for building a basic legalese vocabulary, and there are very few opportunities to practice using that vocabulary and the accompanying grammar rules (or lack thereof). 

Okay, now let’s look at #3. 

#3: If you really want to become fluent in a language, you immerse yourself in an environment where only that language is spoken. If you’re glamorous and fancy, that often looks like spending extended time in a country where that language is spoken.

But if you’re trying to speak legalese, I think that looks like spending a lot of time inside of a law firm *rolls eyes*. And I’m pretty sure that law firms are universally low on people’s destination vacation lists.

So are you seeing the problem here?

None of the traditional ways of learning a languagereally work for legalese.

Do you know what that means? 

Well for one, it means you are definitely not an idiot. Nor are you stupid or slow or any other self-deprecating thing you may have called yourself when you were struggling to understand what that damn contract says. 

Second, it means we need to shift our expectations when it comes to being fluent in legalese. The truth is you can’t learn a foreign language overnight especially when none of the resources you need to do so are readily available. 

Third, it means you have to make the most of every opportunity you have to learn legalese. That means you need to approach every contract, every negotiation, and every legal worry as an opportunity to learn and build your legalese fluency. 

If this makes you roll your eyes or sigh, that’s cool. I fully admit that what I’m telling you is annoying. But it’s also the truth. And I think you know that too.

This is exactly why I started The Everyday Lawyer. My contract review service is specifically designed to help you make the most of every contract you encounter in your work. When you send your contract to me to review, I send you back a comprehensive legal reference guide that is designed to teach you legalese so you can take another step towards legalese fluency. 

The guide I send you also becomes a resource that you can refer back to when you’re reviewing future contracts. You can use it to refresh your memory and reinforce your legalese knowledge (without have to pay more money!). 

I acknowledge that it’s not a perfect solution. The solution is to change the way contracts are written and perhaps do away with legalese altogether. But the law is always the last thing to change in our society. And while we’re waiting for it to change, you’re still frustrated and confused. 

I may not be able to change the whole system today, but I can give you the knowledge you need to feel informed and more confident in your work. If you’ve got a contract to review, then you’ve got an opportunity to build your legalese fluency. 

Let’s get to it.