[pseingatl]

Legal writing is the only type of writing for which copying someone else's ideas (i.e., precedent) is a virtue rather than a vice. But it's easy to slip in "snake oil," even in a business context. Let's say you have two contract parties in different states (or one in another country) and each has a local lawyer. How do you use which state--or country's--law will apply. A contract isn't just an agreement, it's an attempt to predict the future. Because U.S. law is forever changing, it's difficult to know what it is likely to be. But I don't think that the "language that survives" in contracts is necessarily opaque because of Darwinian principles. Look at the almost universal notarization clause. That's pretty clear, I think.