One specialism that you might find interesting is legal editing.
However, there are a few tips from our proofreading course – things to bear in mind before accepting a position or taking on a freelance assignment.
As a legal editor, you’ll work with copy written by and/or for lawyers. Specialist legal publishers often require help with preparing legal texts and journal articles for publication.
Larger publishers have online services too which require editorial assistance (LexisNexis and Thompson Reuters, to name just two).
If this is something you’d like to pursue, here are some pointers on mastering the nuances of legal editing:
You don’t need to be a lawyer: Of course, legal certifications will be a great leg-up in getting work, but aren’t always necessary. I’ve been working in legal publishing since 2002 without legal certifications of any kind.
Invest in a good legal dictionary – something we stress on our proofreading course: It’s important to familiarise yourself with legal jargon to ensure you use it in the correct context. Latin phrases are common, as are stock terms like ‘fit and proper’; not to mention your antiquated-sounding adverbs (hereof, thereof, and whereof etc.).
Get to know your acronyms: You’ll come across plenty of these. Courts are often referred to by acronym, such as EWHC, EWCA Civ and ECtHR. Legislation is abbreviated too, for example HRA for the Human Rights Act and RIPA for the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act.
Remember that given the precise nature of the law, there is an even greater emphasis on accuracy and a need to understand what you’re reading.
However, if you’ve completed a good proofreading and editing course you’ll be well prepared to turn your hand to anything!
See our proofreading courses