My next assignment for my legal research and writing class is doing a legal analysis memo.  The instructor emphasized that he wants us to use “plain English” and avoid legalese or overly formal phrases.  However, I’m having a hard time doing that after 20+ years of immersion in the legalese pond, despite pouring over The Party of the First Part website, as well as several others.  POFP helps somewhat, but I find I’m having to go back and rewrite everything at least 2 times.  After typing terms like volte face into briefs all the time, I feel somewhat like I’m “dumbing down” my writing.