In my original article “A fish rots from the head, and a pleading from its heading”, published last year, I argued against opening pleadings like this:
Acting on behalf of claimant X, pursuant to the power of attorney granted to me to represent its interests in these proceedings, a certified true copy of which, together with proof of payment of stamp duty, is attached to this statement of claim, I request…
Instead, write:
As X’s lawyer, I request…
Why? Because giving the court all that information is simply unnecessary. And including unnecessary things in a pleading is, well… unnecessary. But that is not all. Such an opening may alienate the court from the outset. It has every reason to suspect that everything else it is about to read will be just as tangled. Not an inviting prospect!
Some time has passed, and I have concluded that the “one correct” opening should be shorter still. Simply write:
X requests…
Why omit the information that we act as counsel? Because we already supplied it when identifying the party: “Claimant: X; Counsel: attorney Y”. There is no point repeating ourselves.
And why use the third person rather than simply “I request…”, as comments on the original article suggested? Because it is more logical and consistent with the Code of Civil Procedure. As lawyers, we file pleadings on the parties’ behalf. Formally, these are their documents and procedural acts. Common sense points the same way: the dispute concerns our client, not us. The value a professional lawyer brings lies not only in knowledge but in emotional detachment. That enables an outside view and helps with better decisions on arguments, litigation tactics and so on.
Moreover, writing only “I request…” could briefly confuse the reader. Who is requesting? The party personally? Counsel? It becomes clear after a moment, perhaps a few seconds. But if we can spare the judge even that much unnecessary mental effort, we should—in our own interests. Let the judge spend those extra seconds analysing our substantive arguments.
Let us reserve “I request…” for occasions when we appear in court on our own behalf—and may we need it as rarely as possible.
