Updating Your Firm's Precedents with Gender Neutral Language

Gendered Legalese

“Where the context so requires, the use of the masculine gender shall include the feminine and/or neuter genders and the singular shall include the plural, and vice versa, and the word “person” shall include any corporation, firm, partnership or other form of association.” [lawinsider.com]

This commonly seen legal clause is often added to precedent documents as a bandaid attempt to tidy up the omission of feminine gendered language in legal texts. Clauses like this allow for the re-use of precedent documents drafted years or decades ago that retain the archaic assumption that the parties to a contract or other legal document are likely men.

As the legal profession finally catches up to the times, legal professionals are increasingly conscious of using inclusive language--and a large part of this means moving away from the bandaid clauses and towards drafting for this century using non-gendered language.‍

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Gender-Neutral Docs‍

Athennian is proud to be at the forefront of change and innovation in the legal community. One way we’re encouraging innovation in legal is by offering a document service to update our customers’ precedents using gender neutral language. Gender neutrality in legal documentation facilitates accurate, precise documents and encourages overdue change towards inclusive drafting.

Updating document precedents to gender neutral language is a service available to all current and new Athennian customers. To learn more, speak to one of our experts here or contact your dedicated Customer Success Manager.