I’ve heard attorneys disparaged: “He just likes listening to himself talk.” Good, that means you will proofread well.

Today’s two minute tip takes two seconds to explain and a little longer to implement. But it is essential. Here it is:

Good proofreaders read their drafts aloud.

Reading aloud tells you what is there and what is not

Your mind will allow you to read over a draft silently, again and again and again, and produce what you wanted to write, even if the word isn’t there. Your mind will even read the wrong word to be the right word, just because you just know the right word should be there. In other words, reading silently enables wishful thinking. If the lawyer who hit “replace all” thereby replacing the word “sua sponte” with “sea sponge” had just taken that extra time to read aloud…

If only the copy editor had proofread out loud perhaps “Cash prizes for sexist lingerie” would not have appeared as an online ad for a “pajama party” at a local bar, advertised as such on the site of a Kansas university newspaper site.

Of course, you should spell check, but we all know spell check will only tell you if you have a cluster of letters that isn’t a word. If I had a penny for each time I’ve typed “trail” instead of “trial,” I’d be a millionaire.

No one is immune. My very excellent former legal secretary typed up corporate minutes that read, “After the accountant gave his report he was executed…” Poor guy.

Reading aloud slowly also reveals missed words as well as misspelled words.

…lets you know and what needs to go

Last but not least, as we’ve pointed out in previous posts, reading aloud helps you discern appropriate length. When you read aloud and run out of breath before the end of a sentence, you just know your sentence is too long. And if you have trouble keeping your place in a paragraph while reading out loud, well then, your paragraph is likely too darn long.

When “we” used dictaphones or “had Sally take a letter” we self-monitored. But in these days of word processing, we are building words, one letter at a time, cutting and pasting with glee. A J.D. is no indication of keyboarding skills. You may be a great lawyer, a great writer, and a grand individual, but please read your drafts aloud S-L-O-W-L-Y.

Posted by Nancy Hupp