Lawyers think they communicate well and that they are improving.

They laugh at 'gobbledegook'.

Some of them even aspire to crystal marks from the Plain Eng lish Campaign (PEC).I have a shock for them: legalese is almost as bad today as it has ever been.

The legal profession has a long, long way to go before it can be thought of as a haven of plain English.That is why the PEC has published its book Language On Trial.

The book is just one step on a very long road.

At the end of the journey, if we are lucky, lawyers will write and speak words that their clients can understand.If only lawyers in Britain could realise that using plain English would liberate them, they would get through more business and they would make more money.

Just ask the best plain English lawyers in countries like Australia, the USA and Canada.

Britain is the birthplace of our wonderful language.

We misuse it and torture it more than anyone else in the English-speaking world.

Lawyers are the PEC's top target.Take these two examples of letters in a matrimonial case from Language On Trial.

The first is traditional legal jargon: 'With reference to the return of the authority duly signed, I have written to your former solicitors requesting your will and title deeds to Fleet Mill.

As it was stated in the interview that the aforesaid property was in mortgage, the said title deeds should properly be held by the mortgagees.'That piece of cold legalese becomes this model of clarity: 'Thank you for signing the authority for me to contact Smith & Jones for the documents we need.

I have now asked them to send me your will, and the title deeds to your cottage, Fleet Mill.'However, as you told me that you have a mortgage, we should probably pass the title deeds to XYZ building society, when we receive them.'A few weeks ago, delegates at the Local Government Lawyers' conference told a member of the PEC that solicitors in local government no longer 'acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 20th inst'.

Good.

But yesterday I received a letter from the Law Society beginning: 'Please find enclosed .

.

.' Why can't the letter say 'I enclose .

.

.'?I was born in a little terraced house in Liverpool.

At 15 I was still illiterate.

There are many like me.

And there are millions of well-educated people who are puzzled by the law.

If you fail to communicate, we have to phone you to work out what you are saying.

It is a waste of everybody's time.Use more thought before you write.

Plan your letter.

Use shorter words.

Make less use of the passive voice.

Use fewer nominalisations -- verbs used as nouns.

Use the best grammar and punctuation.

Speak more clearly, too.

Using legal jargon among colleagues may be a sort of shorthand, but it baffles ordinary people.If you follow all these plain English guidelines, there is a good chance you will change from an ordinary lawyer into an outstanding lawyer.