The article 'Language barrier' touches only one small aspect of the problem (see [2004] Gazette, 10 June, 16).

Far more damaging than the occasional Latin phrase is the lawyers' custom of overwriting - as a matter of course, a few simple sentences are run together into one indigestible sentence with the word order jumbled, archaisms added, and the punctuation removed.

This is done in the forlorn hope of precision, but almost invariably creates ambiguity and masks mistakes.

But the outlook is better than your article suggests.

Clarity was launched in this letters column in 1983, and is now a flourishing worldwide movement of lawyers promoting clear legal language.

Our Web site is: www.clarity-international.net.

Mark Adler, Clarity, Dorking