Kimble Center for Legal Drafting announces board of advisers, and graduate fellow, and medical form

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The Kimble Center for Legal Drafting at WMU-Cooley Law School has announced the appointments of its initial board of advisers, along with its second graduate fellow.

The board of advisers consists of an acclaimed group of international experts in plain language, forms and website design, and user testing: Peter Butt, emeritus professor of law, University of Sydney; Anne-Marie Chisnall, deputy chief executive, Write Limited, New Zealand; Martin Cutts, president, Plain Language Commission, UK; Caroline Jarrett, owner, Effortmark LTD, UK; Janice (Ginny) Redish, president, Redish & Associates, Maryland; Karen Schriver, president, KSA Communication Design & Research, Inc, Pennslyvania; and Helen Xathaki,  professor, University College London and dean, Postgraduate Laws Programmes, University of London. These experts have published extensively and bring with them decades of experience in their fields. They will be involved in reviewing documents produced by the Center.

The Center’s second graduate fellow will be Bridget Saxton. Saxton, who graduates with honors in May, is managing editor of the WMU-Cooley Law Review. She received the Beachnau Award for making the most significant contributions to the Law Review through leadership and dedication.

Saxton graduated from Kalamazoo College and earned a Masters in Public Administration from Western Michigan University, where she won an MPA Scholar Award for Best Project Paper. She had several legal externships while studying at WMU-Cooley.

“I couldn't be more excited to be a part of the Kimble Center,” said Saxton.

“I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to be mentored by Professor Kimble and be a part of something special. I have enjoyed learning from his works in the classroom, reviewing his recent submission to the Law Review, and working as a research assistant. He has opened my eyes to the importance of good legal writing and drafting.”

The Kimble Center was created by WMU-­Cooley in 2018. Its primary mission is to produce and make available—to attorneys and consumers—legal documents that are clear and easily understandable.

Last November, the Center gave its first public seminar devoted to clear legal drafting. 

In further news, the Kimble Center released its first public document—a medical power of attorney, available for download on the center’s website.

The document has been 18 months in the making and went through more than 50 drafts.

It was reviewed by experienced elder-law attorneys, doctors, and the center’s international board of advisers, whose members are experts in plain language, forms and website design, and user testing. The form has received the WriteMark Plain-Language Standard from Write Limited, based in New Zealand.

The next step will be testing with actual users at Michigan State University’s department of Usability/Accessibility Research and Consulting.

 “Although it would have been preferable to wait until after testing to make the form available, current circumstances created a more immediate need. Everybody should have a medical power of attorney,” Kimble said.

The center’s goal is to make it readily available and easy to use — and improve it if need be as time goes on.

 The center is partnering with Michigan Legal Help, which offers an array of information and forms on its website, now including this medical power of attorney.



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