Wordy Ways to Say “When”

Dear Legal Writer: Before you give that partner the draft you’ve been slaving over, make sure you fix these WORDY ways to say “when”:

📍  At this point in time

✅  “Currently” is better

*

📍  At the present time

✅  “Now” is better

*

📍  For a period of 3 years

✅  “For 3 years” is better

*

📍  At the time when

✅  “When” is better

*

📍 On July 18 . . . On July 19 . . .

✅  “On July 18 . . . The next day . . .” is better

*

The wordy versions are clunky to read.

They also add to your word count.

To be sure, there’s a time and place for wordy ways.

But it’s not often.

And in legal writing, brevity is (almost) always the best way.

Might you swap out some wordy clauses from your writing today?

Fondly,

💌 Amanda

#DearLegalWriter

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