Stop Misusing “Such”

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We spend a fair amount of time here discussing legal writing. It’s not emphasized nearly enough in law school, and as a result, poor legal writing is everywhere, creating confusion, wasting time, and losing cases.

The simplest way to improve your legal writing is to stop using legalese. Yes, legal writing sometimes requires terms of art. But far too many lawyers misuse common words, thinking they have some legal meaning when they do not, and wind up only confusing and annoying readers, including other lawyers,  judges, and juries.

Such is just such a word.

How to use such

Use such as a demonstrative adjective to refer back to something to which you’ve already mentioned. In this usage, such means “of that kind,” as in, “such a person,” or, “such people” when you’ve already somehow mentioned a category of people. It is a “pointing word,” according to Bryan Garner, and it must refer to a clear antecedent.

For example, you might write, “Aggravating factors in sentencing include assaults lasting an unusually long time, or causing particularly serious injuries, or that demonstrated unusual cruelty. The assault that defendant committed does not meet such criteria.”

How not to use such

Garner is so annoyed by the misuse of such in legal writing that at his Advanced Drafting Seminar I attended, he included it on his Drafting Oath that all participants wrote out and signed. I have that oath at my desk. Number 3 on the list is “Never again will I preparea document that contains such in place of this, that, these, those, or the.”

Here’s one of Garner’s examples: “The Association agreed to compile data on all conventions that will occur in cities where there are interested Gray Line members and to forward such report to such members.” The first such should be omitted as no reports have been referred to. The second such is not incorrect but would read better as those.

Note also how in my example or correct usage above, such could be easily replaced by those. So it violates my drafting oath.

While I still think shall should be banished from legal writing altogether, since it isn’t necessary, and getting rid of it would end the debate over its proper usage, such is a useful word that lawyers continually misuse. If you aren’t sure you need it, it’s best to avoid it altogether.

Andy Mergendahl negotiates contracts for a national commercial bank. He's also been a solo practitioner and a judicial law clerk. He considers himself a foot soldier in the War on Legalese (also known as the War Without End). Andy enjoys collecting names for bands that do not (yet) exist, being a runner (but not the act of running so much), and Surly Furious. Follow him @andymergendahl or Google+ at AndyMergendahl