Law, meetlinguistics
The Linguistics & Law Lab, or “LingLawLab,” run by Professor Janet Randall, works at the border of law and linguistics to improve justice. Using experimental studies and other tools from linguistics, our goal is to make legal language accessible to all people, not just legal professionals.
Legal language is notoriously difficult. Why?
Our studies have identified that certain linguistic factors cause confusion and that minimizing them improves comprehension. Here’s an example:
“Innocent misrecollection is not uncommon.” California Book of Approved Jury Instructions, 2002
vs
“People often forget things or make mistakes in what they remember.” California Civil Instructions, 2024
As a result of our Plain English Jury Instruction project, the Massachusetts judiciary changed their guidelines for how to write jury instructions, and recognized Professor Randall for her work.
Click below to learn more about our recent projects:
Confusing language causes conflict between judges, and more importantly, threatens justice.
Image on right: Sketch of the Simpson jury, © Bill Robles, 1995
Plain English Jury Instructions
Ambiguity
Quantifiers in the Law
