A cause of over-formality in legal writing
Legal writers are usually busy:
"[B]usy writers often operate on automatic pilot without much thought to the character they are portraying in their prose. And when legal writers are on automatic pilot, most tend to drift into more formal prose because they have read so much of it during their education."
Stephen V. Armstrong & Timothy P. Terrell, Understanding "Style" in Legal Writing, 17 Perspectives: Teaching Legal Research and Writing, 43, 45-46 (2008).
"[B]usy writers often operate on automatic pilot without much thought to the character they are portraying in their prose. And when legal writers are on automatic pilot, most tend to drift into more formal prose because they have read so much of it during their education."
Stephen V. Armstrong & Timothy P. Terrell, Understanding "Style" in Legal Writing, 17 Perspectives: Teaching Legal Research and Writing, 43, 45-46 (2008).
Agreed. It's also why people tend to drift too often into cliches; they use them because they know no other way to express their ideas. And I would add that reading great writing is the best way to become a great writer.
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