I was editing a draft of my own article, and I came across the phrase “Catching people who violate criminal bans on leaking tax information . . . .” Uh, that’s the same as “Catching people who illegally leak tax information . . .”; and the latter version is shorter, simpler, and more active. Why did I write the long version in the first place? Why does clunkiness and complexity seem to come so naturally to us (and not just to us lawyers, I think)?
Comments are closed.