Many studies and reports have been made in recent years about the need for lawyers and judges to speak and write in simpler terms, avoiding professional jargon, Latin phrases and words that are multisyllabic (like this one), so that people who are not learned in the law can readily understand what we are saying.
I couldn't agree more that it is time to eschew obfuscation.
Unfortunately, some lawyers still think the sine qua non of a good legal argument is to use some Latin phrase. However, such phraseology is not sui generis to the legal profession. Nothing could do more to confabulate an already confused public. I avoid that type of pro forma Latinism sua sponte. I think it's time to truncate this factitious linguistic abuse sine die. It simply makes no philological sense.
Whether you are appearing in court regularly or pro hac vice, from voir dire through surrebuttal examination, whether arguing the efficacy of neuroleptics for someone non compos mentis or a superseding intervening cause, it is best to keep your language simple and understandable. Simple language is res judicata.
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