Legal Writing Course

LEGAL WRITING COURSE

10-14 October 2011

The Professional Development Project of the Faculty of Law, UCT, is pleased to once again offer a 5 day course in Legal Writing.

About the course

The course is an intensive, five-day course, which carries the award of a UCT Certificate to candidates who attend all lectures and complete a prescribed assignment.

The following will be covered during the lecture sessions and will include drafting exercises throughout:

Objectives of Legal Drafting. This topic will focus on the broad purposes, social utility, and general strategies of legal drafting and the context within which it is done.

Why plain language?This will be a critical evaluationon the plain language approach to drafting based on the readings and the participants' experience of drafting legal texts.

Life, Logic and Language. This topic looks at the complexity of the task of creating legal rules that will be certain given the complexity of clients' objectives, the inherent ambiguity of language, the dynamic nature of law itself and the uncertainty of the future.

Interpretation. This topic is to refresh the participant's memory of statutory and contractual interpretation and to place the activity of drafting legal texts firmly within itsinterpretative context.

Elements of professional drafting. This topic focuses on the approach to drafting and emphasises the contextual nature of the task.

Structure and organisation. All legal texts, whether legislative or commercial, have an implicit organising principle or structure. The topic will look at ways in which texts can be structured to improve consistency, certainty and accessibility. The three fundamental levels will be analysed: the document as a whole, the chapter or part, and the section.

Legal vocabulary. This topic looks critically at the words that lawyers' use - particularly the redundancies, nominalisations andjargonthat they use without thinking. There is also an analysis of words of authority such as 'shall','may' etc.

The legal sentence. This topic will concentrate on the logical structuring of the legal sentence, and the construction of complex sentences involving conditions, exceptions and caveats.

Gender.The distinction between gender-neutral and gender-free drafting is explained. Methods of achieving gender free drafting is explored.

Ambiguity.This topic covers the inherent ambiguity of language and the various stratagems to contain it.

Presentation. This topic looks at the presentation of documents, particularly the navigational and referential aids that should be incorporated into legal documents.

Punctuation. This is a short presentation on those aspects of punctuation that are relevant to legal drafting.

Special Clauses. The following kinds of clauses are considered and discussed:definitions, establishment clauses, transitional provisions

The course will run as a "block" session, to make it easier for those not from Cape Town who wish to attend. The sessions generally run from 09:00 to about 16:30, with breaks for lunch and tea (lunches and refreshments are provided).Students may be expected to do some work on their assignments after hours.

Who should attend?

This course attracts participants from all over Southern Africa and benefits anyone undertaking any type of legal drafting in practice, in government or in commercial organisations.

Course fee

R7500

The fee includes course notes, lunches and refreshments,as well as access to the Law Faculty’s extremely comprehensive library during the session.

Participants on the course are responsible for their own travel and accommodation expenses.

Closing date for registration and payment

Friday the 30th September 2011

Registration and enquiries

Please contact Irèna Wasserfall (021 650 5621) or Shani Vavruch (021 650 5413). Fax:0216505662; e-mail / OR see the Law Faculty Website

REGISTRATION FORM:

LEGAL WRITING 2011

Venue: Law Faculty, Middle Campus, UCT (Directions will be sent later.)

Date:10-14 October 2011

Closing date for Registrations: Friday the 30th of September 2011

COMPLETE IN FULL. Use ONE form per person registering. Please write clearly.

Incomplete forms will not be processed.

Return completed forms by fax to 021- 650- 5662 OR by e-mail to or

APPLICANT DETAILS
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PAYMENT DETAILS
Complete in full:
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COURSE FEE (VAT exempt ) / R7500
Payment must be made within 30 days of date of invoice.
This fee includes refreshments and lunches, course material, parking and access to the library.
DISCOUNTS: Groups of 5 or more from the same firm/organisation may apply for a discount:
5 – 10 people = 10% / 10 – 20 people = 15%
PAYMENT OPTIONS (Please indicate which method you will be using)
‮‮□Once off payment:
□ By direct deposit

(current)
Proof of payment to be faxed to 021 650 5662 for Irèna or Shani’s attention
□ By cheque: Made out to UCT.
□ By credit card: Master or Visa cards only
Please request credit card payment form from Irena Wasserfall () or Shani Vavruch ()
□ 2 month payment plan:
50% payable on registration
Balance payable within 60 days of invoice
Special application may be made to pay a reduced fee, based on financial need.If you wish to apply for a reduction, please submit a full motivation, with a statement of income and expenditure, including a list of liabilities due under credit or instalment agreements.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS:

1. You will be invoiced for your attendance – payment must be made within 30 days of date of invoice. We reserve the right to refuse attendance to the seminar/ workshop/ course if the fee is outstanding. Please note that if the fees are still outstanding within 90 days of invoice, the debt will be handed over for collection.
2. Cancellations:

I.You may cancel your registration in writing BEFORE the closing date of registrations.

ii.Those who have registered and have not cancelled in writing BEFORE the closing date for registrations will be liable for 75% of the course fee.

iii.Should you fail to attend the seminar/ workshop/ course without having cancelled as above, you will not be entitled to a refund if you have already paid.

1. UCT reserves the right to cancel the course if insufficient registrations are received, in which case the course fee will be refunded in full if already paid.
2. Submission of this form will be taken as acceptance of the conditions above.

**********I acknowledge that I have read and accept all the terms and conditions set out in this registration form and consider myself bound by them.

______

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Physical address:Postal address:

Professional Development ProjectProfessional Development Project

Rm 4.09, Kramer Law BuildingRm 4.09, Kramer Law Building

Middle Campus, UCTPrivate Bag X3

Rondebosch 7700Middle Campus, UCT, Rondebosch 7700