学部後期課程
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最終更新日：2026年10月16日
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最終更新日：2026年10月16日
授業計画や教室は変更となる可能性があるため、必ずUTASで最新の情報を確認して下さい。
UTASにアクセスできない方は、担当教員または部局教務へお問い合わせ下さい。
特別講義 Plain Legal Drafting: Principles & Practice（外国語科目）
Plain legal drafting: principles and practice
Course objectives/overview
OVERVIEW: PLAIN LEGAL LANGUAGE
The plain legal language movement is a response to the historical impenetrability of legal writing in all languages.
Over the last century, but particularly over the last 50 years, many western jurisdictions have introduced new standards for clear, plain legal drafting.
These standards have been adopted by a wide range of bodies and entities.
This includes parliamentary and bureaucratic bodies, law schools, law firms and major corporations.
Among other benefits, these new standards:
- are useful for all kinds of legal documents - from legislation to public notices to contracts to client communications.
- allow legally-qualified writers to communicate complex ideas clearly and concisely.
- provide cost and time savings, especially in cross-border transactions
- increase user comprehension, goodwill and compliance.
The global nature of the plain legal language movement has resulted in calls for international standards to be established.
A general plain language ISO was adopted in June 2023: ISO 24495-1:2023.
A plain language ISO for legal contexts was released in August 2025: ISO 24495-2:2025
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COURSE OBJECTIVES:
This course offers the opportunity for students to:
1) Learn the history and principles of plain legal drafting in English;
2) Apply them to a range of English and Japanese legal documents; and
3) Receive helpful feedback on the clarity and concision of their drafting.
By the end of the course, each student will have begun to develop their own individual plain language drafting style.
This style can then inform the student's legal drafting in any language.
This will be useful in the student's everyday working life, whether revising outdated models or drafting legal documents from scratch.
OVERVIEW: PLAIN LEGAL LANGUAGE
The plain legal language movement is a response to the historical impenetrability of legal writing in all languages.
Over the last century, but particularly over the last 50 years, many western jurisdictions have introduced new standards for clear, plain legal drafting.
These standards have been adopted by a wide range of bodies and entities.
This includes parliamentary and bureaucratic bodies, law schools, law firms and major corporations.
Among other benefits, these new standards:
- are useful for all kinds of legal documents - from legislation to public notices to contracts to client communications.
- allow legally-qualified writers to communicate complex ideas clearly and concisely.
- provide cost and time savings, especially in cross-border transactions
- increase user comprehension, goodwill and compliance.
The global nature of the plain legal language movement has resulted in calls for international standards to be established.
A general plain language ISO was adopted in June 2023: ISO 24495-1:2023.
A plain language ISO for legal contexts was released in August 2025: ISO 24495-2:2025
++++++++++++++
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
This course offers the opportunity for students to:
1) Learn the history and principles of plain legal drafting in English;
2) Apply them to a range of English and Japanese legal documents; and
3) Receive helpful feedback on the clarity and concision of their drafting.
By the end of the course, each student will have begun to develop their own individual plain language drafting style.
This style can then inform the student's legal drafting in any language.
This will be useful in the student's everyday working life, whether revising outdated models or drafting legal documents from scratch.
時間割／共通科目コード
コース名
教員
学期
時限
0126988
FLA-BL4623L3
特別講義 Plain Legal Drafting: Principles & Practice（外国語科目）
LAWSON Carol
木曜2限
マイリストに追加
マイリストから削除
講義使用言語
英語
単位
2
実務経験のある教員による授業科目
NO
他学部履修
可
開講所属
法学部
授業計画
Week 1:
Introduction
History of legal language
Week 2:
Rationales for plain legal language
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From Week 3 to Week 9, roughly half of each class will be spent doing in-class exercises.
Students will immediately apply plain language drafting principles to real-world legal texts, in cumulative fashion.
In other words, each week, students will be expected to apply all the principles they have learned so far.
The in-class exercises will include peer and instructor feedback, as well as class discussion
Week 3:
Plain legal drafting principle #1: Normality
In-class exercises
Week 4:
Plain legal drafting principle #2: Brevity
In-class exercises
Week 5:
Plain legal drafting principle #3: Clarity
In-class exercises
Week 6:
Plain legal drafting principle #4: Formality
In-class exercises
Week 7:
Plain legal drafting principle #5: Directness
In-class exercises
Week 8:
Plain legal drafting principle #6: Dynamism
In-class exercises
Week 9:
Plain legal drafting principle #7: Flexibility
++++++
In Weeks 10 through 13, students will apply all the skills they have learned to different genres of legal writing.
These in-class exercises will also include peer and instructor feedback, as well as class discussion
The tasks involved will be plain language contract drafting / correspondence writing / legislative drafting exercises.
One assignment will be set for completion between classes during these weeks.
授業の方法
Each week, students will:
1) learn plain legal drafting principles
2) apply them, in a cumulative fashion, to improve legal documents that have been poorly-drafted
3) receive peer and instructor feedback
4) discuss and reflect on what we have learned.
成績評価方法
Grading will use the A+, A, B, C, D grading scale.
Grading will be based on:
Class participation: 30%
Assignment (instead of a 'report'): 20%
Final exam: 50% (Method A: 2 hours; students may answer in either Japanese or English)
履修上の注意
The course will be conducted in English.
However the plain legal drafting principles taught in this course can be applied in any language.
