CPD 456 – Clear and Concise Legal Writing for Lawyers (Complete Seminar)

Recorded: 2026-06-10
Qualifies for 2.25 CPD hours.

Session 1 – Clarity in Legal Writing: Five Techniques to Avoid Ambiguity

In this session, you will explore five techniques for drafting clear emails and documents. By applying these techniques, you will ensure that your readers can fully understand your legal writing, even when your files are complex.

Throughout this engaging session, the instructor will display before-and-after examples of legal writing that demonstrate the five techniques for drafting clearly. The program will challenge you to identify why each writing example is ambiguous before the instructor shows how to eliminate the confusion.

Upon learning the five techniques for achieving clarity, you will be able to visualize your own writing from the perspective of your readers. As a result, your readers will be more likely to accept your position on legal issues.

• Explain legal concepts using simple language
• Decide when to repeat a term versus when to use a synonym
• Determine when to use (and when to avoid) the word “and”
• Identify misplaced modifiers and ambiguous references
• Draft emails and documents that are easy to read — even for non-lawyers

Session 2 – Email Best Practices for Legal Professionals

This session covers important concepts relating to email communication for legal professionals. By mastering email best practices, you will establish a reputation for sending user-friendly correspondence, which will cause your clients and coworkers to open your messages quickly rather than put them off. The overarching theme of this program is “drafting emails that are easy for your readers to respond to.”

Live Q&A

Presenter: Ryan Standil

About the Presenter

Ryan Standil practised law until 2015, at which point he became a legal-writing instructor. For the past 10 years, Ryan has owned and operated Write To Excite, a company that provides legal-writing seminars at law firms and through law societies.

In Ryan’s local province of Ontario, he is the legal-writing instructor for the Law Society of Ontario.

In addition to speaking engagements at home, Ryan has been invited to speak at organizations such as the Tennessee Bar Association, the Oregon State Bar, the State Bar of Georgia, the Alaska Bar Association, the Law Society of Saskatchewan, CLEBC, the American Bar Association, and Lawline.

Over the years, Ryan has taught legal writing to thousands of lawyers and legal support staff. Ryan is relied upon by major Toronto law firms to train their associate lawyers, through group workshops and individual coaching.

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This content has been prepared for use in conjunction with a CPD program hosted by the Law Society of Saskatchewan. Reproduction of any portion of the program content, for purposes other than personal use, without the express written consent of the Law Society is strictly prohibited. The presenters have assumed that viewers will exercise their professional judgment regarding the correctness and applicability of the program content. The Law Society can accept no responsibility for any errors or omissions and expressly disclaims any such responsibility.

This transcript has been generated by an automated speech recognition system and may contain misspellings, mistranslations, or errors. It may be incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or speech recognition errors. It is provided as is without any warranties or guarantees of accuracy. The Law Society of Saskatchewan does not assume any responsibility or liability for the use or interpretation of this transcript.