Making Our Writing Easier to Read: How Readability Statistics Can Help Lawyers Write Better
We’ve all been there. We finish drafting a brief, a client letter, or a motion, and we know it’s technically correct — but we can’t shake the feeling that it’s harder to read than it should be. The sentences are long. The paragraphs feel heavy. But how do we quantify that “hard to read” quality so we can fix it?
One underused tool can help us diagnose these problems: Microsoft Word’s Readability Statistics function. It’s built right into Word, and once we know how to use it, it can reveal patterns in our writing that make our documents more difficult to read.
Why Readability Matters in Legal Writing
Legal readers are busy readers. Judges, clerks, and clients alike are pressed for time and attention. Clear, readable writing helps ensure that they absorb our key points quickly and accurately. Studies show that when readers must struggle to understand dense or convoluted prose, their comprehension drops and their trust in the writer declines.
Of course, achieving readability doesn’t mean “dumbing down” our writing. It means expressing complex ideas clearly. It’s about structure, rhythm, and word choice — all elements that affect how easily a reader’s brain can process what we’ve written.
The Readability Statistics function gives us objective data on those elements, helping us see where we can simplify without sacrificing substance.
What the Readability Statistics Tell Us
When we run the Readability Statistics function in Word, it generates several metrics, including average sentence length, average words per sentence, percentage of passive sentences, and two especially useful scores: the Flesch Reading Ease score and the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score.
Here’s what those two metrics mean and how to interpret them.
Flesch Reading Ease
The Flesch Reading Ease score is a number from 0 to 100. The higher the number, the easier the text is to read. It’s based on two factors:
- Sentence length (shorter sentences improve readability)
- Syllables per word (shorter words improve readability)
A score between 60 and 70 is considered easily readable by most adults. Scores above 70 indicate very simple writing — appropriate for general audiences. Scores below 50 suggest that a document is difficult or “academic” in tone.
Most legal writing tends to fall on the low end — often in the 30s or 40s — which means our prose demands more concentration from readers than most general writing. Heavy citation in a document can artificially depress the Reading Ease score. So, while we need not always aim for a 60 or 70, if our scores consistently land below 40, we might look for ways to simplify.
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level
The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score expresses readability in terms of U.S. school grade levels. It uses the same two factors — sentence length and syllables per word — but converts the result into a number that roughly corresponds to the grade level needed to understand the text.
For example, a score of 12.0 suggests the writing would be comfortably understood by a high school senior. A score around 10 is typical for general non-fiction, while newspapers often aim for 8.
If your legal writing regularly hits 15 or higher, that’s a signal to look more closely at your sentences and word choices. Long, abstract sentences full of multi-syllabic words may make our prose sound formal, but they also slow our readers down.
Spotting Patterns That Interfere with Readability
Once we start checking our readability statistics, we begin to notice patterns. Maybe our sentences average 35 words each. Maybe half of our sentences use the passive voice. Maybe our grade level score has crept up to 17.
These data points alert us to specific habits:
- Long sentences: Try breaking complex thoughts into two or three shorter sentences.
- Heavy Nouns: Replace “the performance of an investigation” with “investigating.”
- Passive constructions: Swap “was filed by the plaintiff” for “the plaintiff filed.”
- Nominalizations: Instead of “make a determination,” write “determine.”
Readability statistics can’t tell us everything — context and judgment still matter — but they act like a dashboard warning light, alerting us to parts of our writing that may need attention.
This image shows the Readability Statistics for this column using the function available in Microsoft Word.
How to Turn on the Readability Statistics Function
If you’ve never used this function, it’s easy to activate in Microsoft Word.
- Go to “File” > “Options.”
- In the left pane, select “Proofing.”
- Under “When correcting spelling and grammar in Word,” check the box labeled “Show readability statistics.”
- Click OK.
Now, when you run a spelling and grammar check (F7 on your keyboard), Word will display your readability statistics after it finishes the check.
If you use Microsoft 365, you can also find the Readability Statistics function under Editor on the Home ribbon. After clicking “Editor,” scroll to the bottom of the sidebar and select “Document Stats” to view your readability scores.
Using the Data Wisely
Readability scores should never dictate every stylistic choice. Some legal concepts demand precision that inevitably reduces readability scores. But these tools give us valuable insight into how our writing comes across to our audience.
If we use them thoughtfully, they help us see patterns we can’t see by intuition alone — the wordy phrases, the long sentences, the unnecessary formality that can obscure our message.
We owe our readers — judges, clients, and colleagues — writing that is not just legally sound, but clear and engaging. The Readability Statistics function helps us move in that direction, one sentence at a time.
Laura Graham serves as Professor of Legal Writing and Director of Legal Analysis, Writing, and Research at Wake Forest University School of Law, where she has been teaching since 1999. She was the first recipient of the law school’s Graham Award for Excellence in Teaching Legal Research and Writing, which is named in her honor, and currently serves as immediate past president of the Association of Legal Writing Directors. Graham is a graduate of Wake Forest University and Wake Forest University School of Law.