[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-147200-en":3,"doc-seo-147200-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":90},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":27,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},147200,549768072016,"WPS_1786070896","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d",10,"Lifestyle","A Legal-Writing Carol","文章以“普通语言（Plain Language）”为主题，通过一则仿圣诞故事的叙事，借“法律写作的幽灵”喻示法律文书中陈旧套话与晦涩法律术语造成的沟通障碍。主角律师在被冗长格式与法律行话“锁链”束缚的想象中反思：清晰并非降低表达，而是提升可理解性与效率。文本强调以更直接的措辞服务读者，避免用多余文字、重复短语与罗列结构制造距离感。","Michigan Bar Journal  \nDecember 2011  \n36 Plain Language  \nA Legal-Writing Carol  \nBy Mark Cooney  \nbenezer Scribe stoked the dying embers, folded himself inside a wool afghan, and settled  \ninto his wingback chair. He’d had another productive day, adding a good ten billable hours to Scribe & Morley’s ledger. Now, in the faint firelight, he was enjoying his hard-earned repose. As he picked up his bowl of stew, he felt a whisper of a draft against the back of his neck and then, inexplicably, heard the gentle ring of the old servant bell, a vestige of his Victorian home’s century-old design.  \n“Humbug,” scowled Scribe, who was in no mood for mysterious disturbances. But he would not quell things so easily this night.  \nClank, clank, thump.  \nScribe snapped to attention at the sound. A few seconds passed. Then quiet again.“Confounded old pipes. Humbug!” He dipped his spoon into his stew. Then the servant bell rang again, this time with vigor.  \nClank, clank, thump.  \n“Blasted, confounded old—”  \nBut before another word dripped from Scribe’s acid tongue, every bell and chime in the house clamored. Scribe’s stew bowl fell to the floor, dumping its contents onto the hearth rug. And then, before Scribe’s brain could register what was happening, a glowing figure passed through the closed door  \nE  \n‘‘Plain Language’’ is a regular feature of the Michigan Bar Journal, edited by Joseph Kimble for the Plain English Subcommittee of the Publications and Website Advisory Committee.Want to contribute a plain-English article? Contact Prof. Kimble at Thomas Cooley Law School, P.O. Box 13038, Lansing, MI 48901, or [at kimblej@cooley.edu. For](at kimblej@cooley.edu. For) an index of past columns, visit www.michbar. org/generalinfo/plainenglish/.  \nas easily as sunlight through plate glass. The limp fire roared to life as if greeting an old friend, and Scribe was face to face with a terrifying specter.  \n“Wha   what  ” stammered Scribe, lifting a hand up to shield his eyes.  \n“Ebenezer.”  \n“Who . . .what are you? Why do you disturb my supper this way?”  \n“Do you not recognize me, Ebenezer? Look. Whom do you see?”  \nScribe peered more carefully into the ghostly glow and made out a familiar face, the face of his long-dead law partner, Jacob Morley. The ghost’s eyes were vacant, its expression blank. Yet its torment was evident. The ghost was clenched in chains—an elaborate network of links that bound it in eternal struggle. As Scribe looked closer still, he saw that the chains were made of words: save as hereinbefore otherwise stipulated... as duly executed and attested by the party of the first part... and by these presents does unconditionally grant, bargain, and sell unto the party of the second part, to have and to hold, the said chattels, goods, and objects hereof ...  \nScribe mustered his voice again. “My dear Morley. My good partner and colleague. But it can’t be. Bah, humbug! My eyes are tricking my brain, and I won’t have it. You’re nothing more than a figment, the untoward product of a bad morsel of beef.”  \n“Your eyes do not lie, Ebenezer.”  \n“But, but what do you want of me? And why are you so tortured? You were a good,  \nable attorney, and your billables were always high and lucrative for our firm. Why do you come to me in chains?”  \n“I wear the chains I forged in life—chains made from the boilerplate, archaic language that built a wall of intimidation and confusion between me and my readers. The impenetrable words that forced my clients to beg for an explanation time and again. I’m chained by the countless surplus words, the inflated words, the rote doublets and triplets. I wear the excess, born of laziness and vanity, that tried my readers’ patience. The words that prevented clarity rather than ensuring it. I wear the chains of legalese, now, as I did in life.”  \n“But those words served you well enough, Morley. Why should you regret them now? And why should I abandon what worked for my predecessors—what worked for you? It was good bus","cbCaif3gYCUoxehM","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaif3gYCUoxehM","pdf",1678529,1,4,"English","en",105,"# Plain Language\n## A Legal-Writing Carol\n## Legalese as “chains”\n## Clarity and reader communication\n## Spirits of writing past","[{\"question\":\"文章用什么方式说明法律写作中的“普通语言”重要性？\",\"answer\":\"文章通过一则“法律写作的圣诞故事”叙事，把冗长法律术语比作束缚幽灵的锁链，让主角直观感受到晦涩表达对读者沟通的阻碍。\"},{\"question\":\"文中“清晰（Clarity）”相较于“简化（dumbing it down）”是什么意思？\",\"answer\":\"文中强调清晰不是把内容变得更笨，而是让表达更聪明、更易理解，从而帮助读者获取信息。\"},{\"question\":\"主角为何会在故事中反思自己的写作风格？\",\"answer\":\"主角意识到自己虽然使用了现代工具写作，却仍沿用过时的表达方式；幽灵质问这种与沟通目标不一致的选择，并预告他将被更多“写作之灵”拜访。\"}]","A Legal-Writing Carol | PDF",1787760275,6,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":33,"title":13,"keywords":34,"description":14,"schema_data":35,"social_meta":85,"head_meta":87,"extra_data":89,"updated_unix":28},"a-legal-writing-carol","",{"@graph":36,"@context":84},[37,53,67],{"@type":38,"itemListElement":39},"BreadcrumbList",[40,44,48,51],{"item":41,"name":42,"@type":43,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":45,"name":46,"@type":43,"position":47},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":49,"name":12,"@type":43,"position":50},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/lifestyle/",3,{"item":52,"name":13,"@type":43,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/a-legal-writing-carol/147200/",{"url":52,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":61,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":62,"interactionStatistic":63},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":41,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-08-26",true,{"@type":64,"interactionType":65,"userInteractionCount":4},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":66},"ViewAction",{"@type":68,"mainEntity":69},"FAQPage",[70,76,80],{"name":71,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":73},"文章用什么方式说明法律写作中的“普通语言”重要性？","Question",{"text":74,"@type":75},"文章通过一则“法律写作的圣诞故事”叙事，把冗长法律术语比作束缚幽灵的锁链，让主角直观感受到晦涩表达对读者沟通的阻碍。","Answer",{"name":77,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":78},"文中“清晰（Clarity）”相较于“简化（dumbing it down）”是什么意思？",{"text":79,"@type":75},"文中强调清晰不是把内容变得更笨，而是让表达更聪明、更易理解，从而帮助读者获取信息。",{"name":81,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":82},"主角为何会在故事中反思自己的写作风格？",{"text":83,"@type":75},"主角意识到自己虽然使用了现代工具写作，却仍沿用过时的表达方式；幽灵质问这种与沟通目标不一致的选择，并预告他将被更多“写作之灵”拜访。","https://schema.org",{"og:url":52,"og:type":86,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":58,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":88,"canonical":52},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":24},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":91},[92,96,100,104,109,113,118,123,128,131,133],{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":47,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":21,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":101,"show_sort_weight":102,"slug":103},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":105,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":106,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":108},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":110,"show_sort_weight":111,"slug":112},"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":114,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":115,"show_sort_weight":116,"slug":117},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":119,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":122},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":127},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":126,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":130},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":132},"lifestyle",{"id":134,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":135,"show_sort_weight":105,"slug":136},19,"General","general"]