• An introduction
• Cleardocs and the plain language mission
• Benefits of plain language
• Plain language training
• Rewriting documents
  • Major legal documents
  • Insurance documents
  • Legislative & regulatory documents
  • Government manuals & guides
• Christopher's clients
• Cleardocs in the media
• Articles and presentations
• Guest editor
• Winning the plain-language debate
• Useful references
• Contact Christopher Balmford
• Links

Articles and presentations

Christopher is a prominent advocate for plain language everywhere. He has delivered papers at conferences, or conducted training, in:

• Australia
• Canada
• Denmark
• Germany
• Namibia
• New Zealand
• South Africa
• the USA
• the UK.

One of the many highlights is his presentation in 1995 at a plain-language session at the American Bar Association's Annual Meeting in Chicago.

Christopher has written reports and many articles on plain language, including:

• "Redrafting the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 in Clear Language", (1991) 2 Revenue Law Journal, page 1.
• "Adding Value by Writing Clearly" The South African Law Journal, August 1994, Vol 111, Part III, page 514.
• two reports for the Life, Investment and Superannuation Association of Australia (then known as the Life Insurance Federation of Australia Inc.). (Both reports with David Kelly). The reports were Simply Better: The case for clearer life office documents (May 1993) and Simplifying Disability Income Insurance Documents (November 1995). The second report includes:
  • a demonstration rewrite of an Application Form, Customer Information Brochure and Policy for a Disability Income Product; and
  • a report of an independent testing project comparing the demonstration rewrite with a real document in the market place.
• "Getting the Structure Right: Process, Paradigm and Persistence" (in 2 parts), Part 1 in Clarity No. 42, at 42 (September 1998); Part 2 in Clarity No. 43, at 14, (May 1999).
• "Plain Language: beyond a 'movement': Repositioning clear communication in the minds of decision-makers" Presented at 'At the Heart of Communication', the Plain Language Association International's (PLAIN) 4th International conference. Toronto, September 26 - 29, 2002. (www.plainlanguagenetwork.org).
  
  He presented an earlier version of this paper at the Language & the Law Conference, The University of Texas at Austin December 6 - 8, 2001. A conference celebrating the Millionth Volume at the Jamail Center for Legal Research, Tarlton Law Library, at The University of Texas at Austin School of Law.