Pre workshop activity
- Meeting to discuss the participant’s needs and those of the organisation
- Draft workshop outline tailored to your needs
- Agreement of agenda
- Participants complete a short questionnaire and read the ITD Work Style Model in preparation for the workshop.
Duration
- Half a day.
Typical Agenda
Introduction
- Effective written communication defined
- What are the key qualities?
- The risks of getting it wrong
Reader Assessment
- Who is going to read this document?
- Adjusting the structure, content and language based on an assessment of the reader
- Building rapport with the reader
Clear Aims
- Why am I writing this document?
- The purpose statement
Planning
- The best way to achieve the objective
- Structure and content
Building Blocks: Paragraphs, Sentences, Words and Phrases
- An explanation of the basics
- Making it clear & concise
- Writing shorter sentences
- Choice of words
- Getting the tone right
- Common pitfalls and how to avoid them
Punctuation Guide
- How are punctuation marks used?
- Avoiding the common mistakes
Hints on Writing to Persuade
- How do I get people to do what I want?
- Simple ways to make documents persuasive
Review & Personal Actions
Post workshop activity
- Participants leave with individual actions
- Email follow up of personal action plans
- Suggested conversation with their line manager on their actions
- Optional WebEx conference call follow up on these actions
- Optional 121 coaching
- ITD blog with further tips and suggestions
Client feedback
- “The feedback from this session is always outstanding.”
Participant comments
- “Gives me clear guidelines on what to do.”
- “Very practical and relevant training”
Call or email ITD to explore how we can help your lawyers can improve their legal drafting and written communication skills.
Legal drafting training – Case Study
Regional law firm in UK.
Background
Trainees, junior lawyers and others benefit from this workshop which we have been running for a number of years. These are trainees or lawyers whoa have or who are developing their knowledge of the law but who need a consistent and accurate way of expressing this in documents.
Need
Simply to be able to write coherent and accurate documents whether they be letters or clauses.
Activity
We developed a half day workshop with an agenda similar to that above. Time is focussed on the key areas and based on the participants needs. The trainees complete a short pre course task which means they are in a better position to learn straight away in the session.
The workshop allows for discussion and typically we get asked the following questions;
- Is there a good way to start constructing a letter or formal email?
- How do we make sure we say what we need to without going into too much detail?
Outcome
“The training courses is run regularly in the year and has a permanent place in the training calendar.”
What the participants said
- “We all found it incredibly useful.”
- “It was a practical session where we could practice our skills.”
- “All the case studies used were from our firm so they were very practical.”