Plain English in Corporate Disclosures: Review and Implications for Consumers, Producers, and the Free-Market System

Abstract

The Internet is revolutionizing the investment world. There are clear benefits to these changes, including lower costs and faster access to the market for investors. There also are consequences to these changes when investors take risks without having access to clear, accurate, and full disclosures. In a free-market system, investors must have access to information they can understand and use autonomously to have full and equal access to the investment market. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently passed a rule requiring businesses to use plain English to try and rid disclosures of their traditionally complex and ambiguous language. However, SEC's rule only addresses the front and back sides of prospectus disclosures. Consequently, the success of plain English will depend on the writer and business using it. Public corporations committed to using plain English will empower investors with the information they need to participate in the market freely and safely. In return, businesses will create a more effective and efficient free-market system by maximizing utility, benefiting producers, consumers, and the market as a whole.

Breaking Professional Boundaries: What the MacCrate Report on Lawyering Skills and Values Means for TPC Programs

“…One aspect of Skill § 8, however, has some coverage in the TPC scholarship: advocacy in administrative and executive forums, such as regulatory agencies like the SEC and the EPA. As mentioned in the introduction, scholars have studied writing that must conform to government regulations, including SEC-mandated disclosure statements and environmental impact statements [2][3][4][5]. Of significance for TPC programs, these articles discuss pedagogical applications of these documents, suggesting that TPC students have at least some exposure to regulatory documents [3, pp.…”

“…One need not be a lawyer to examine legal documents. Consider that Durack explained how to research the U.S. Patent Record [2], Palmeri discussed the collaborative experiences of non-lawyer writers in a medical malpractice firm [6], and numerous articles explicate regulatory documents [3][4][5]26]. These form some foundation to study documents from legal practice like briefs and judicial opinions and to collaborate with legal scholars.…”

“…To take but one example, an article in the 1980s described a need in the legal profession for improved writing and referred to prelaw education and interdisciplinary scholarship as ways of addressing this [1]. Later works analyzed an array of particular types of legal writing, such as patents [2], environmental impact statements [3], and SEC-mandated disclosure statements [4,5]. Most recently, Palmeri's study on collaborative writing shows how professional writers helped mediate conflicts between lawyers and nurse consultants at a medical malpractice firm, suggesting a role for professional writers as makers of meaning rather than as mere legal scriveners [6, p. 57].…”