A Warning to Potential Clients
Consider the following copy, currently posted at a firm’s Web site:
When we counsel employers on decisions that affect employees, we discuss how our advice affects your potential litigation position, as well as your daily operations, corporate values, and your image in the community.
Notice the mismatch between pronoun and antecedent. The dependent clause refers to employers, but the independent clause refers to you, to your potential position, to your daily operations, and to your image.
Big deal? No. But the mismatch does suggest that this firm doesn’t pay attention to details, and that’s a poor way for any firm to advertise its services.
From the same firm:
It is not our goal to be the biggest law firm in our region, but to be recognized as “the best” lawyers in particular areas of commercial law and litigation.
Here, there is no error in grammar. Rather, there’s an error in style.
The error in style? The shift from singular (the law firm) to plural (the best lawyers). Here’s what an editor might do to set that copy in good style:
It is not our goal to be the biggest firm in our region, but to be known as the best firm in particular areas of commercial law.
Note: When you want to make a particular point (best v. biggest), don’t use more words than you need to. Extraneous verbiage tends to obscure the point.
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Also from the same firm, from its copy about diversity:
Our firm was founded in a time of great inequity for minorities — due to their heritage, all four firm founders could not find employment with local law firms, regardless of their excellent educational backgrounds and clerkships.
Yipes! According to this, the reason the firm’s founders coulnd’t find work was because of their heritage, not because of prejudice against them. This is called blame the victim.
What else?
The first grammatical error in the copy seems to come from a failure to use the possessive (unless the intent was to say that the firm’s founders were firm, whatever that might mean). But the firm had five, rather than four, founders, and that “four” is a misspelling — it should have been set as “our,” as in “all our firm’s founders.”
A simple misspelling, right? Wrong. The misspelling is a significant error; it says this firm can really mess things up. Potential Clients, Beware!
Here’s how that copy might have been revised by an editor:
Our firm was founded during a time of great prejudice towards minorities. Because of that prejudice, none of our firm’s founders could find employment with any of the local firms.
Note that the revised copy is briefer than the original. Once again, extraneous verbiage has been cut.
