We’ve Published Our Gender Diverse Legal Writing Guide
June 28, 2022
BY Alison Wilkinson
The British Columbia Law Institute (BCLI) is pleased to release its latest publication, Gender Diversity in Legal Writing: Pronouns, Honorifics, and Gender-Inclusive Techniques.
The Guide was developed in response to changes in legal practice and to reflect society’s adoption of a more inclusive view of gender, gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation. Although this publication is a writing guide, it also encourages writers to consider the impact of their language choices in relation to other aspects of personal identity.
The Guide provides practical tools, techniques, and best practices for those seeking to adopt gender-inclusive writing. The material provides simple solutions to questions like:
- What do you do if you don’t know a person’s title or pronouns?
- How do you greet people you do not know in a gender-inclusive way?
- What do you do if you’ve accidentally misgendered someone?
This resource provides helpful content to support the legal and other writers when writing about people. The Guide contains a glossary of common terms and misconceptions, which provides definitions of terms like nonbinary and outing, and also identifies pitfalls of certain language. The Guide also features a condensed “pocket” version, for at-a-glance solutions to common writing concerns, or for use as a reference poster.
The BCLI is grateful for the support of experts and academics who graciously reviewed this Guide and provided their insight. Financial support for the Guide was provided by the Law Foundation of British Columbia.
A digital copy of the guide is available to download here.
