Medical Power of Attorney achieves a WriteMark Plus designation

The Kimble Center for Legal Drafting at WMU-Cooley Law School earned the WriteMark Plus quality mark from Write Limited, a New Zealand consulting organization, for its Medical Power of Attorney. The quality mark is given to documents that achieve a high standard of plain language. Only documents tested on actual users are eligible, and the Center’s Power of Attorney was tested with users this past summer by Michigan State University Usability/Accessibility Research and Consulting.

Lynda Harris, the CEO of Write, said: “We’re excited that the Kimble Center has gone the extra mile with their Medical Power of Attorney. After gaining the WriteMark earlier this year, the Center decided to apply the results of user testing to the document. It became the first document in the U.S. eligible to hold the WriteMark Plus.”

Joseph Kimble, the Center’s senior director, noted the final document was two years in the making and took more than 50 drafts.

“One of the Center’s goals,” he said, “is to produce and make available to the public some important legal forms—and to write them in plain language. Everyone should have a medical power of attorney. Everyone needs to answer the question, ‘Who do I want to make medical decisions for me if I can’t make them myself?’”

The Medical Power of Attorney is available for free download at: https://www.cooley.edu/node/695

 WMU-Cooley Law School created the Kimble Center in 2018. Kimble is a distinguished professor emeritus. The Center’s executive director is Professor Mark Cooney.