“Sometimes, what is not written says more, and is more consequential, than the words that appear on the paper.”<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n On March 13, 2017, a U.S. Court of Appeals reversed a multi-million \ndollar decision from a lower court \u2013 because of a comma. Labor laws in \nthe State of Maine establish that overtime will not be paid to work \npertaining to \u201c\u2026the canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distribution of<\/em>\u2026\u201d\n perishable goods. Truck drivers of Oakhurst Dairy argued that since \nthere was no comma between the terms \u2018packing for shipment\u2019 and \n\u2018distribution,\u2019 the alternative conjunction \u2018or\u2019<\/em> indicated that\n both are two different terms of the same activity; so \u2018distribution\u2019 \nitself was not included in the list of exceptions and should be paid \novertime. The company, on the other hand, maintained that the \ndisjunctive conjunction \u2018or\u2019<\/em> served to enumerate all activities\n in the list of exceptions, so that \u2018packing for shipment\u2019 and \n\u2018distribution\u2019 were two individual activities within a list of others, \nnone of which generated overtime. Ultimately, the court agreed with the \ntruck drivers and ordered Oakhurst Dairy to pay more than $10 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Businesses lose millions of dollars each year due to grammar or \nspelling mistakes that result not only in economic losses, but also in \ndamages to the image and commercial reputation of the company which \nleave an impression of negligence in the minds of consumers. Many of \nthese errors are typographical mistakes, such as in the case of Italian \nairline, Alitalia, which in 2006 offered flights from Canada to Cyprus \nfor only $39, because the executive in charge of publishing the fare \nmisplaced the decimal point in the normal rate of $3,900. This mistake \ncost Alitalia $7.7 million in losses in the almost 2,000 tickets that \nwere purchased before it had time to correct the mistake. Others, are \ndue to carelessness, such as in the case of the Japanese company Mizuho,\n who tried to sell shares of a subsidiary in the Tokyo Stock Exchange. \nTheir intention was to sell individual shares for a price of 610,000 Yen\n each, but due to negligence by the broker, they ended up selling \n610,000 shares for only one Yen each; incurring in a $340 million loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, other mistakes are due to a lack of language proficiency on the part of the lawyer, and these are the most concerning because it is precisely the lawyer\u2019s job to ensure the integrity and clarity of the document. Lawyers work with the written word and are obligated to handle the language with mastery, accuracy and precision. Their main duty is to adequately articulate the positions and the arguments of their clients, and know how to clearly communicate their ideas. The legal professional not only requires the analytical capacity for creative problem solving, but also the skills to write and express himself in a clear manner, leaving no gray or vague terms which may call into question the interpretation of what he is trying to convey. This is especially relevant in the case of contracts and other legal documents, in which parties exchange obligations and whose default may entail serious financial consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2005, the Canadian telecommunications company, Bell Aliant, entered into a contract dispute with the cable company, Rogers Communications, seeking the early termination of their agreement. The termination clause in the contract provided that \u201c\u2026this agreement shall be effective from the date it is made and shall continue in force for a period of five (5) years from the date it is made, and thereafter for successive five (5) year terms, unless and until terminated by one year prior notice in writing by either party<\/em>.\u201d Bell Aliant argued that they had the right to terminate the agreement at any moment, as long as they gave Rogers a one-year written notice; while Rogers argued that this right only applied until after the first five-year period was concluded. The difference between both interpretations came down to the second comma and represented more than $900,000 in damages. In the end, the courts ruled in favor of Rogers, having to resort to another version of the contract, written in French.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Grammar and spelling do<\/em> have significant value in the \nwriting and revision of legal documents. Ed\u2019s comma cost his firm $1.6 \nmillion, a decimal point cost Alitalia $7.7 million, and the conjunction\n \u2018or\u2019<\/em> cost Oakhurst Dairy $10 million. The proper use of \nlanguage and rules of punctuation are absolutely essential for a literal\n interpretation, free of ambiguity. Nevertheless, it is not enough to \nverify that spelling and grammar are correct during a process of legal \nrevision, as some lawyers unfortunately limit themselves to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It falls within the scope of a lawyer\u2019s responsibility to foresee and\n avoid the possibility of confusion when interpreting legal documents \nthat may give rise to disputes and result in detriment to the interests \nof the parties. Sometimes, what is not<\/em> written says more, and \nis more consequential, than the words that appear on the paper. And this\n is twice as relevant where the lawyer is also a notary, and assumes the\n professional responsibility for the drafting of the document and its \ncompliance with legal formalities. A constant and meticulous revision of\n the text and the periodic edition of what is written, become necessary \ntools for the author or reviewer of legal documents. Impatience and \nhaste are his main enemies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Typographical errors, carelessness, poor spelling and grammar mistakes are luxuries that lawyers, unfortunately, cannot afford. It is important to remember that \u201cDon\u2019t be thorough<\/em>\u201d and \u201cDon\u2019t; be thorough<\/em>,\u201d are not the same thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes, what is not written says more, and is more consequential, than the words that appear on the 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