[thechao]

I have a long-abiding interest in linguistics, and formal training in programming language theory. English legalese is my favorite pseudo-language. It's also the first pseudo-language I remember learning about, from my uncle. My uncle is a very accomplished attorney (up to the Supreme Court) and his comment was, to paraphrase: "legal texts are usually very clear once you understand them; it is the discovery of facts, and the application of the text to facts that are the domain of lawyers and judges".

[jacques_chester]

In law school the mnemonic was "IRAC": Issues, Rules, Application, Conclusion. A lot of legal writing at least rhymes with that structure.