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book: The Language of Lawyers
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The Language of Lawyers

A European Perspective
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Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2025
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Foundations in Language and Law [FLL]

About this book

Clarity of court proceedings is increasingly considered essential to both the efficiency and the quality of a modern judiciary. One particularly under-researched area is the language of pleadings, i.e., texts written by lawyers representing the parties in court. Building on the results of the AttiChiari project, the first part of the book contains chapters on recent legal reforms and the language of Italian lawyers, while the second part includes chapters on the language of lawyers in Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Romania and the United Kingdom. With contributions from leading experts in the field, the volume combines legal and linguistic expertise in equal measure, as well as a substantial body of practical reflections by civil and criminal lawyers. Having clarity of court proceedings as a unifying thread, the volume focuses on access to justice as a prerequisite for democracy and for a truly inclusive society.

Author / Editor information

Jacqueline Visconti, University of Genoa, Italy.

Topics

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    Frontmatter

    I
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    Acknowledgement

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    Contents

    VII
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    Introduction

    1
    Jacqueline Visconti
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  • Part I: Lawyers’ pleadings in Italy
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    Concision and clarity in the structure of Italian pleadings: A comparative overview in a European perspective

    13
    Anna Barbano
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    The principle of clarity and conciseness of documents following the reform to the Code of Civil Procedure

    31
    Federico Ungaretti Dell’Immagine
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    Between civil trial rules and good writing advice

    45
    Ilaria Pagni
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    Le Mot Juste: Clear language as a “systemic” value, and the role of the lawyer

    59
    Serena Dentico and Giorgio Sobrino
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  • The linguistic perspective
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    In the instant haze: Clarity and unclarity in lawyers’ pleadings

    73
    Riccardo Gualdo
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    Old and new rules for legal writing in Italy

    95
    Federigo Bambi
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    Language of the lawyer and language of the judge in court proceedings in Italy

    105
    Maria Vittoria Dell’Anna
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    Lexical variation in lawyers’ pleadings: Observations from the AttiChiari corpus

    119
    Laura Clemenzi
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    Writing clear pleadings: The contribution of punctuation

    137
    Giulia Lombardi
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    Tradition and innovation in the language of Italian pleadings: Anglicisms and Latinisms

    155
    Francesca Fusco
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  • The IT perspective
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    New approaches to processing and modeling judicial corpora

    165
    Daniele Fusi
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  • Insights from and on the bar
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    Composing pleadings (as in music)

    187
    Lelio della Pietra
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    Legal writing: Expectations, memories and a few things learned

    203
    Gaudenzia Brunello
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    The power of words, the choice of words: Inside and outside judicial proceedings

    217
    Angelica Scozia
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    Gender-based violence at trial: A new language for respecting human rights

    227
    Sabrina Lucantoni
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    Gonario Pinna: A lawyer in Sardinia

    233
    Guido Melis
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  • Part II: Lawyers’ pleadings in Europe
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    The style of barristers’ submissions when defending a civil case in court: An outsider’s view on England and Wales

    247
    Silvia Ferreri
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    Sketches on English and Italian pleadings in civil procedure: Language, structure, style

    267
    Luca Passanante
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    Skeleton Arguments: Use and abuse

    275
    John Bowers and Hannah Hinton
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    Language variation in the written communication of German lawyers

    287
    Hannes Kniffka
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    Written pleadings in German civil trials

    303
    Eva Wiesmann
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    Defence proceedings in France: Between tradition and standardization?

    329
    Michel Cannarsa
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    Linguistic and discursive analysis of French legal writings for the defence

    341
    Margarete Flöter-Durr and Paulina Nowak-Korcz
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    From como mejor proceda to the first and second otrosí: The language of defence counsel in Spain

    363
    Miguel Ángel Campos-Pardillos
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    Portuguese defence proceedings and court applications: aiming for clarity and inclusiveness

    383
    Pierre Lejeune and Amália Mendes
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    The language and structure used in the defence statements of Flemish lawyers: An exploratory study

    399
    Karl Hendrickx, Henk Pander Maat and Raf Van Ransbeeck
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    The language of the defence: Communication in Finnish courts

    417
    Laura Ervo
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    The language of defence in criminal proceedings: The Polish perspective

    447
    Barbara Janusz-Pohl
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    The language of family court petitions and applications in Romania

    469
    Sorina Ciobanu
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    Index

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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
December 4, 2025
eBook ISBN:
9783111340982
Hardcover published on:
December 4, 2025
Hardcover ISBN:
9783111340753
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Front matter:
10
Main content:
489
Illustrations:
12
Coloured Illustrations:
8
Tables:
13
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111340982
eBook ISBN: 9783111340982
Hardcover ISBN: 9783111340753
Keywords for this book
Counsel Proceedings; Language in Court; Clear Legal Language; Open Justice; Language and Law
Audience(s) for this book
Scholars in Civil, Administrative, Criminal and Comparative Law; Legal Language and Courtroom Discourse
Safety & product resources
Manufacturer information:
Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Genthiner Straße 13
10785 Berlin
productsafety@degruyterbrill.com
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