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The SEC and Plain English
SEC Chairman Christopher Cox addressed the 2007 Corporate Counsel Institute this week and emphasized the SEC’s commitment to the use of plain English. As I have mentioned previously in this blog, the SEC has been a long-time champion of plain English and its website includes a helpful
“Plain English Handbook.” According to Cox, the SEC will be “relentless in seeing to it that the language in which both regulation and disclosure are written is plain English.” Cox started out by reminding the group that lawyers did not always speak legalese:
It's fitting that we're gathered at a law school, because it reminds of us howwildered we all once were when we first heard the jargon and cant of the lawyer. Back when the deep structure of our minds was not influenced by the densely reticulated vocabulary of legalese, we could relate to the experiences of today’s investors trying to make sense of their proxy statements.
The speech is interesting and includes diverse references to John Grisham, Oliver Wendell Holmes and Mark Twain, all of whom recognize the value of plain English.
Thanks to the
CorporateCounsel Blog.
