1999 Clarity

Plain English Committee Gives Clarity Awards To Delano, Del Duca And Termini

The First Annual “Clarity Awards” for promoting the use of clear language were given at the May 1999 PBA Annual Meeting in Philadelphia. The recipients were Jonathan W. Delano, Louis F. Del Duca and Roseann B. Termini.

The awards were presented by Leslie Anne Miller, PBA president, and Judge Richard B. Klein, chair of the PBA Plain English Committee and vice chair of the Pennsylvania Futures Commission on Justice in the 21st Century.

Miller commented on the need for lawyers to write clearly to effectively communicate their points to the decision makers. Klein talked of the vision for the justice system of the future, and said the goal was to make the system more accessible and understandable to citizens. He said writing in plain English would help overcome the feelings of many citizens that the justice system was too cumbersome and complex.

Delano is managing director of the law firm of Meyer, Darragh, Buckler, Bebenek & Eck in Pittsburgh, Pa. He was given the Clarity Award for his work in encouraging the use of plain English principles in the associates and junior partners in his law firm. Delano also writes a weekly column for the Pittsburgh Business Times and explains complicated legal principles in terms accessible to the non-lawyer.

Del Duca is associate dean and a professor of law at Dickinson School of Law of Penn State University in Carlisle, PA. In addition to his teaching, Del Duca has been a leader in the effort to simplify the language of the Uniform Commercial Code.

Termini is a legal writing professor at Villanova Law School and served as a senior Deputy attorney in the office of the Pennsylvania Attorney General. In that position she authored the regulations and wrote a compliance guide to Pennsylvania’s new “Plain English” Consumer Contract Law.