The mission of the Kimble Center for Legal Drafting is to produce and make available—to attorneys and consumers—legal documents that are clear and easily understandable, documents unlike anything that the public is used to seeing from attorneys.
Powers of Attorney — For My Health Care and My Finances
The Kimble Center for Legal Drafting has released two public documents — a Medical Power of Attorney, and now a Durable Power of Attorney for Finances. They are easy-to-use online forms and were tested with actual users. Both forms won a ClearMark Award from the Center for Plain Language, and they received a WriteMark Plus designation for plain language from Write Ltd. in New Zealand. Both forms are screen readable and can be filled in online.
If you are using assistive technology, we recommend that you download the pdf document and use Adobe Acrobat to read it, rather than using your web browser’s built in PDF viewer. Both forms are screen readable, but you must download the fillable form to fill it out and save it. Of course, you can also download it and fill it out by hand.
3rd Annual Seminar: More Hot Tips for Better Legal Writing and Drafting
The Kimble Center for Legal Drafting's 3rd annual seminar was outstanding! Guests joined from around the globe, including Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Paris, France; Playa del Carmen, Mexico; Warsaw, Poland; Mexico City, Mexico; and numerous cities in Canada, to hear panelists Professor Emeritus Peter Butt, University of Sydney; Professor Emeritus Joseph Kimble; Clarity International President Julie Clement; and host Professor Mark Cooney.
2nd Annual Seminar: 30 Tips for Better Legal Drafting and Writing
Nearly 350 people signed up from around the world for this year's Kimble Center for Legal Drafting seminar called 30 Tips for Better Legal Drafting and Writing. The virtual event, held on April 1, 2021, was the Center's second seminar—free to lawyers, law students, and anyone else interested in improving their professional writing. Presenters were Professors Joseph Kimble (Cooley), Mark Cooney (Cooley), and Patrick Barry (University of Michigan). Professor Kimble offered drafting advice; Professor Cooney gave general advice on writing in plain language; and Professor Barry gave advice on persuasive writing.
1st Annual Seminar: Better Legal Drafting — for Documents of All Kinds
About the Center
The Center will work with the school’s clinics and with bar associations to identify and draft the kinds of high-use documents that will most benefit the profession and the public. The Center’s Board of Advisers, listed below, boasts some of the world’s foremost experts in plain language, information design, and user testing.
The Center is named for Joseph Kimble, a distinguished professor emeritus and internationally recognized expert on plain language and legal drafting. Professor Kimble taught legal research and writing at Cooley for more than 30 years and serves as a drafting consultant to the Standing Committee on Federal Court Rules. His work in restyling the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Federal Rules of Evidence earned him two prestigious Burton Awards for Reform in Law. He has also earned a ClearMark Award and the State Bar’s John W. Reed Lawyer Legacy Award. Professor Kimble was a founding director of the Center for Plain Language, has authored three books on the value of plain language in the law and government, and has edited the Michigan Bar Journal’s “Plain Language” column for nearly three decades.
The Cooley Law Library is home to an entire collection dedicated to Plain Language.
Board of Advisers
| Peter Butt Emeritus Professor of Law University of Sydney, Australia https://www.plainlanguage.org/ |
Janice (Ginny) Redish Consultant in content strategy, plain language & user experience Bethesda, MD, USA https://redish.net/ |
| Anne-Marie Chisnall Deputy Chief Executive Write Limited Wellington, New Zealand https://www.write.co.nz | writemark.co.nz |
Karen Schriver Former professor, Carnegie Mellon University President, KSA Communication Design & Research, Inc. Pittsburgh, PA, USA https://www.karenschriverassociates.com |
| Martin Cutts Director, Plain Language Commission Whaley Bridge, UK https://www.clearest.co.uk |
Rob Waller Director, The Simplification Centre, UK President, International Institute for Information Design https://www.simplificationcentre.org.uk |
| Caroline Jarrett Forms and Survey Specialist & Artificial Intelligence Feasibility Investigator Effortmark Ltd Leighton Buzzard, UK https://wwweffortmark.co.uk |
Helen Xanthaki Professor, University College London Dean, Postgraduate Laws Programmes University of London https://www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/people/prof-helen-xanthaki |