Course overview
Commercial and contract managers may not draft contracts entirely from scratch, but they are regularly required to draft new contract clauses, amend existing agreements, update commercial contracts, and prepare clear legal correspondence. Strong contract drafting and legal writing skills are therefore essential for managing risk, protecting commercial interests, and performing effectively in the role.
This practical contract drafting and legal writing training course will provide you with the skills and confidence to draft, review, and amend contracts in clear, precise legal English. Under the guidance of an expert trainer, you will gain a comprehensive understanding of best practice in legal drafting, common drafting pitfalls, and the latest techniques for producing well-structured, unambiguous contractual wording.
The course covers how to write and structure contract clauses effectively, use legal terminology accurately and avoid ambiguity in commercial agreements. You will also develop your ability to draft professional legal emails and letters with clarity and precision, ensuring your written communication is appropriate, effective and legally robust.
Through a series of practical drafting exercises, redrafting workshops and group activities, you will apply the principles learned to real-world commercial agreements and legal correspondence. This highly interactive training course is designed to help you improve your drafting techniques immediately and confidently apply best practice in your day-to-day work.
By attending, you will strengthen your commercial contract drafting, legal writing and contract review capabilities - helping you reduce contractual risk, improve document quality and better protect your organisation’s interests.
CPD Hours: 6
Course Content
- Day 1
- Guidelines to writing/drafting contracts in clear English
- PRACTICAL EXERCISE: Redrafting clauses in clear English
- Legal correspondence: writing emails and letters with precision and clarity
- PRACTICAL EXERCISE: Drafting emails with precision and clarity
- Advanced contract drafting practical exercise
- Legal vocabulary
Speakers
Alan Simmons
Alan Simmons LLB (Hons) in Law with French , LLM in International Human Rights Law, RSA CETEFLA. Alan is a highly experienced trainer of legal English who has been working with international lawyers across the globe for nearly 30 years. He shares his expertise by delivering legal and business skills and language training to lawyers, other professionals and businesspeople to enhance their skills at drafting concise and watertight contract clauses in the English language.
He qualified as a solicitor in England having studied law in the UK, Strasbourg and the European University Institute in Florence and then went on to train as a solicitor in an international law firm. He spent some years practising commercial law in law firms in London in the areas of corporate law, construction law, employment law, intellectual property, advertising and media law.
He is fluent in French and Portuguese and has good written and spoken Spanish, Italian and Albanian. He has completed legal translations from French, Spanish and Portuguese and he also has conversational German, Japanese, Croatian, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian and Romanian. His passion for different writing systems in languages means he has learnt to read and write Hindi, Persian, Japanese and Arabic.
He has used his skills and experience to successfully train legal staff from junior counsel to judges in all elements of international commercial law across the world. Alan is a dynamic trainer and applies a highly interactive style to ensure complete understanding and an enjoyable learning experience.
