Lawyers to ditch jargon

Lawyers to ditch jargon

Lawyers expect complaints to increase in the short term

Lawyers in England and Wales have been told to stop using jargon and keep their language simple when dealing with clients.

But The Law Society says complaints against solicitors could rise by nearly a third in the wake of the launch of the new charter, which also tells the lawyers to deal politely with their customers.

The organisation, which represents 85,000 solicitors, said lawyers who used terms like "codicil", "actus reus" and "forbearance" when dealing with clients should use plain English instead.

The new Client's Charter also says solicitors need to be polite and considerate, and to explain the likely costs of legal work up-front.

Brochures have been sent to all solicitors' offices, Citizens Advice Bureaux and libraries in an attempt to reduce the number of complaints made to the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors in the long term.

Some legal jargon and what it means

Codicil: Extra pages in a will

Actus Reus: An illegal act

Forbearance: Agreeing not to pursue rights even though an agreement has been broken

But Law Society chief executive Janet Paraskeva said they expected complaint numbers to increase by 30% over the next six months, in addition to the 7,500 complaints currently being dealt with.

She said: "It's necessary to run the risk of increasing complaints in order that the public can better understand what they should expect from solicitors,"

"We're not saying solicitors must not use legal jargon but if there are legal terms that must be put into a document they must explain what those terms mean."

The Legal Services Ombudsman has been critical of the way the Law Society handles complaints, and the organisation has been told it must improve if it wants to maintain its self-regulating status.

The £250,000 campaign involves producing the leaflets in English, Welsh and a number of other languages, plus a number of other brochures on 11 different topics such as making a will, buying a home and setting up a business.