Plain Language in the Law Is No Longer Optional: ISO Just Set the Standard

Yesterday, the ISO released a powerful new tool for the legal profession: ISO 24495-2:2025 - Plain Language, Part 2: Legal Communication. It’s not just another policy, it’s the first international framework calling lawyers to communicate clearly, not just correctly.

Plain language isn’t about watering down legal rigor, it’s about unlocking clarity.

•  Clarity saves costs. Better legal communication reduces misunderstandings, litigation, costs, and dramatically boosts compliance and trust.

• Access to rights matters. When you articulate legal rights plainly, individuals and organizations can earn a living, secure housing, make health and financial decisions, and engage with legal systems more confidently.

• It’s global and universal. ISO 24495-2 is built on evidence-based principles and experts from around the world. It works across sectors (health, government, contracts) and languages, despite only English examples being provided initially.

1. Breaking Down ISO 24495-2: What It Covers

This new standard extends ISO’s plain language framework into the legal domain with four core goals:

1. Reach multiple audiences, from clients to colleagues to courts.

2. Adhere to legally required structural and design requirements, like formatting.

3. Explain complex concepts clearly, like liability, contingencies, and procedures.

4. Guide readers through processes, like applying for rights or navigating a contract.

In short, ISO 24495-2 gives you tools to make legal information that clients can find, understand, and use.

2. Where Legal Design Fits In

Here’s the fascinating part: while ISO 24495-2 is framed around plain legal language, it borrows heavily from legal design principles.

The standard explicitly encourages:

• Using graphics where they clarify content

• Headings that convey meaning, not just structure

• Layering information for multiple readers with different needs

These are core design methods. They transform legal documents from text-heavy, inaccessible artifacts into human-centric tools. For the legal profession, this means one thing: legal design is becoming the de facto standard. Not yet codified, but clearly embedded in global norms and expectations. The firms, in-house teams, and public institutions that embrace design methods today are positioning themselves not just as innovators, but as leaders of the new normal.

3. From Practice to Prestige: Why This Matters Today

There’s more at stake than just readability.

• Digital readiness. Clarity is essential for effective translation, digital platforms, even AI processing.

• Professional credibility. Firms that adopt these principles rise above legalese. Transparency and plain language help build trust, and momentum.

• Inclusion as standard. This isn’t just a recommendation; it’s becoming the benchmark. Regulators, NGOs, and businesses are already looking to ISO as a quality seal.

In short:

• For in-house lawyers: it’s about helping business teams use contracts correctly.

• For law firm lawyers: it’s about clients understanding the value of your work.

• For public officials: it’s about citizens accessing rights without barriers.

• For clients: it’s about knowing what you’ve agreed to, and how to act on it.

4. The Dollars and Sense of Plain Language

Skeptics often dismiss plain language as “nice to have” rather than essential. But the evidence says otherwise. Joseph Kimble’s landmark book, Writing for Dollars, Writing to Please: The Case for Plain Language in Business, Government, and Law, compiles decades of studies proving that clarity doesn’t just help readers, it saves organizations serious money.

Take just one example: when Alberta Agriculture rewrote its forms in plain language, the results were staggering. Processing time became seven times faster, error rates fell by 20%, and the agency saved $3.5 million every single year. Kimble’s research covers dozens of similar cases in government, business, and law. The pattern is consistent:

• Fewer mistakes → which reduces rework, complaints, and litigation

• Faster processing → which frees up staff capacity and cuts costs

• Happier stakeholders → because people understand what’s expected of them

Private organizations that adopt plain language benefit with efficiency and financial gain. Financial services company Banco simplified internal online guides that boosted productivity by 37%, reduced staff errors by 77%, and cut support calls by 17%, producing an estimated CAD $3.5–15.2 million three-year ROI. 

The takeaway? Plain language isn’t just about style. It’s about operational efficiency and trust. Now, with ISO 24495-2 explicitly recognizing plain language in legal communication, what used to be seen as a “progressive” choice has become a global benchmark. And contracts are no exceptions.

5. Plain Language in Contracts: GE Aviation’s Case Study

ISO 24495-2 may be hot off the press in 2025, but the movement toward plain legal language has been building for years, and Shawn Burton’s work back in 2014 at GE Aviation is proof.

As General Counsel, Burton faced the same challenge many in-house lawyers know too well: contracts that were technically precise but painfully slow to negotiate. Teams equated fewer pages with clarity, but he realized the true measure wasn’t length, it was speed. “If negotiation time stays the same or goes up, nobody will care how long the agreement is,” he noted.

That insight led GE Aviation’s Digital Services business to pioneer plain-language contracts. They applied what Burton called the “high schooler test”, if a high school student could understand the terms, then so could a customer. The results were striking:

• 60% reduction in negotiation time compared to old templates

• Fewer disputes, in fact, not a single one arising from the wording of these new contracts

• Customer delight, with one saying: “The agreement was reasonable to work with, as you saw by our extremely limited redlining.”

This isn’t theory. It’s proof that understandability drives business impact. Shorter cycles, faster deals, happier customers. And now, with ISO 24495-2:2025, what Burton and GE Aviation pioneered no longer sits in the realm of “innovation.” It is fast becoming the global benchmark. Lawyers who stick to legalese risk lagging behind, not only in trust and customer satisfaction but in measurable business outcomes.

6. What You Can Do Right Now

This is where legal design and plain language intersect, and where you can lead:

• Audit your existing contracts. Can your clients find, understand, and use the provisions without a lawyer explaining? That’s the standard.

• Embed the four readability pillars. Every legal document you touch should be relevant, findable, understandable, and usable.

• Apply legal design methods. Don’t just edit for clarity, visualize. Treat contracts like products.

• Promote your commitment. Make "ISO-aligned, design-led communication" part of your strategy, marketing, or client service proposition.

Final Thoughts

Plain legal language isn’t new. What’s new is that it’s now backed by an international standard. The movement has matured from a best practice into the benchmark of professional excellence. Lawyers and organizations who ignore it aren’t just clinging to tradition, they’re leaving money, time, and goodwill on the table. 

Reminder: The ISO norms requires that wording, structure and design need to be so clear that intended readers can easily find what they need, understand what they find, and use that information. ISO 24495-2:2025 isn’t an optional framework, it’s the new standard for legal communication. It validates what we’ve believed through contract and legal design: clarity isn’t a shortcut; it’s a strategic advantage. And as the standard quietly folds in legal design methods, the message for lawyers is clear: plain language is mandatory, but design will differentiate you.

If you want to master these skills for yourself or equip your team to do the same, you need to join our Contract and Legal Design Certification Program. The next generation of contracts, policies, and legal processes won’t just be understood. They’ll be experienced, and legal design is how we’ll build them.