Regarding the Rule of Agreement
Here’s a fundamental rule of grammar (the rule of agreement): no part of a sentence should disagree with another part.
There’s quite a lot to it, but one element is this — don’t shift point of view in an independent clause.
And why not? At the least, it burdens readers. And it has the power to leave readers wondering who or what the you mean.
Consider the following sentences, each of which shifts point of view within an independent.
CPDB prides itself on our strong client and community relationships and we are able to offer individuals, families and their businesses a full range of legal services.
For more information about Thelen, the firm’s leadership, or our attorneys, please contact us.
Diversity is an important part of the firm’s culture and essential to our success.
The diversity of the Firm’s client base is matched by the diversity of our attorneys.
What distinguishes Heller Ehrman from competitors is not only the quality and breadth of our practice and client base, but also our commitment to certain core values . . . .
Pillsbury’s continued growth and success reflects a passion for embracing change in order to meet the evolving needs of the market and our clients.
Each Holland & Hart office offers the personal service you expect from a local firm, yet is backed by our nationally recognized lawyers and by today’s most advanced computer technology.
O’Melveny & Myers LLP is proud of its long-standing commitment to diversity and to promoting equal and nondiscriminatory opportunities for all of our lawyers and staff.
Why not simply tell readers that O’Melveny is proud of its workers, or say we are proud of our workers?
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Exercise
Read your firm’s About Us page. How often does it shift point of view in one simple statement? Go to the web site of a Fortune 500 company (one with a really big budget for promoting its own interests) and read the About Us page. Notice any difference?***
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Let’s look at another error that’s fairly common, not just in legal marketing, but in the widest range of discourse.
Now . . . how do you suppose each of the following violates the rule of agreement?
Each of our offices hosts recurring Women’s Forums to address the unique concerns of women attorneys and assist in their career and business development.
Our women partners have been recognized for their outstanding professional achievements.
Four of our offices are led by women managing partners.
As part if its charter, the Women’s Forum holds an annual reception and lunches where the Firm’s women attorneys share experiences with women Summer Associates.
In addition to fewer women making partner, women attorneys continue to make less money than their male counterparts.
ENGAGE was established by our women attorneys as part of our firm’s commitment to endorse and promote diversity.
The Women’s Initiatives Group has evolved with the explosion of women entrepreneurs and women-owned businesses and the increase in women attorneys.
Our goal is one of fostering an environment that is attractive to minority men and women attorneys.
The Women’s Forum provides meaningful opportunities for interaction among women attorneys.
Our Firm encourages and promotes both internal and external leadership positions for women attorneys.
Overall, our women attorneys come from more than 70 colleges, 50 law schools and 15 countries, and speak more than 20 languages.
The Women’s Forum is focused on fostering opportunities for the professional, social and personal growth of our women attorneys.
As part of our Firm’s ongoing commitment to diversity, we will introduce minority and women attorneys to key clients.
The violation? Each sentence uses a noun (women) as an adjective.
And it’s downright sexist. Or have you ever heard a firm refer to its men attorneys?
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Let’s look at another error — one common to law firm marketing materials.
The Firm is committed to advancing the role of women and diverse individuals in the workplace.
We are committed to creating an inclusive, open, and respectful culture comprised of diverse individuals from diverse backgrounds.
In addition to expanding our pool of highly qualified minority applicants, the Firm has implemented training for our attorneys who interview on campus to ensure that we successfully communicate to minority candidates that our Firm is an excellent place for diverse attorneys to grow and succeed in the legal profession.
Our dedication is prominently reflected in the firm’s values statement, in which we pledge to achieve “uncompromising excellence,” by, among other things, “identifying superior and diverse lawyers.”
The Firm is committed to optimizing this opportunity to hire outstanding individuals of diverse backgrounds.
We encourage diverse students to pursue a career in law.
Diversity at our firm does not mean that we have a certain number of diverse attorneys; true diversity means that it is no longer noteworthy to see diverse lawyers leading our practice groups or managing client relationships.
We are dedicated to improving retention by building upon our monitoring and mentoring program for all diverse associates.
We have focused our diversity initiatives on both increasing the number of diverse associates and addressing the challenges diverse attorneys face in building lasting careers and rising to senior and leadership positions.
While several of our key practice groups are led by diverse partners and female partners, the Firm endeavors to create a culture which will foster a deep pool of such attorneys who can then develop into the firm’s future leaders.
We understand that simply hiring diverse associates will not change the diversity of the firm.
The Firm is working to mentor and retain diverse associates so that our progress in racial, gender and cultural diversity is also reflected at the highest levels of leadership within the firm.
As part of our Firm’s ongoing commitment to diversity, we will enhance our recruiting efforts to promote the hiring of individuals from diverse backgrounds.
The violation? Each sentence uses ‘diverse’ to describe an individual, or an individual’s background. Yet, it’s a property that describes groups, not individuals.
A law firm might consist of a diverse group of attorneys, but it’s hard to imagine a firm that consists of a group of diverse attorneys (unless they’re schizophrenics).
One More Example
Consider this popular phrase: Prior results to not guarantee a similar outcome.
Does that phrase follow the rule of agreement?
No, it doesn’t.
The disagreement is between results (plural) and outcome (singular).
That’s right. Strange as it may seem, attorneys in New York are required to add this grammatically incorrect statement to all of their promotional materials.
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Aside from middle schoolers getting ready for statewide assessments in English, does any of this matter to anyone?
I believe it does. And I believe some among your base of potential clients do agree.
*** Yes, you’ll find shifts in point of view (like “At Adobe, we value our long-standing relationship with Thorne”), but not in a simple statement.
