As you can imagine, we’ve read widely over the years about all aspects of communicating in writing. There are so many books on the market, it’s hard to know which are the best on a particular subject.
Here’s a selection of the books we’ve found most useful in developing our expertise and supporting our training courses.
Books on plain language
Clarity for Lawyers by Mark Adler and Daphne Perry (The Law Society)
Oxford Guide to Plain English by Martin Cutts (Oxford University Press)
Writing for Dollars, Writing to Please by Joseph Kimble (Carolina Academic Press)
Plain English for Lawyers by Richard C.Wydick (Carolina Academic Press)
Get to the point – How to write well at work by Christopher Stoakes (Christopher Stoakes Ltd)
A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting by Kenneth A. Adams (American Bar Association)
Books on legal drafting
Legal Usage – A Modern Style Guide by Peter Butt (LexisNexis Australia)
Modern Legal Drafting by Peter Butt (Cambridge University Press)
Writing and Drafting in Legal Practice by Paul Rylance (Oxford University Press)
Books on grammar and punctuation
Usage and Abusage by Eric Partridge (Penguin)
Modern English Usage by H.W. Fowler (Oxford University Press)
Complete Plain Words by Sir Ernest Gowers (Penguin)
Books on general writing style
The Economist Style Guide (Profile Books)
Oxford Style Manual (Oxford University Press)
Essential English by Harold Evans (Pimlico)
The Elements of Style by Strunk and White (Longman)