Highlight passive voice in legal writing
AI finds and highlights every passive sentence in your legal document. Improve clarity and directness.
Highlight passive voice in legal writing
River's Passive Voice Highlighter scans legal documents and identifies every passive voice construction. Passive voice makes writing less direct and harder to understand by obscuring who performed actions. The AI highlights passive sentences with brief comments, making them easy to spot. Within minutes, you see every instance of passive voice in your document. Perfect for legal writers improving clarity, attorneys editing briefs and contracts, law students learning effective writing, and anyone creating clear legal documents.
Unlike grammar checkers that flag many issues at once, this tool focuses exclusively on passive voice, making it easy to see patterns in your writing. The AI identifies constructions like 'was filed,' 'is required,' 'shall be provided,' and 'will be delivered.' You get systematic passive voice identification without distracting suggestions about other writing issues. Focus on making your legal writing more direct and active.
This tool is perfect for legal writers refining documents, attorneys editing briefs and memos, law students developing writing skills, and anyone improving legal document clarity. Use it when editing contracts, briefs, memos, opinions, or any legal writing. Great for teaching yourself where you habitually use passive voice. The AI creates consistent identification helping you develop more active writing habits.
Active vs Passive Voice in Legal Writing
Active voice clearly states who does what: 'The court granted the motion.' Passive voice obscures or omits the actor: 'The motion was granted.' Active voice is more direct, easier to understand, and usually shorter. Passive voice can make writing vague, wordy, and bureaucratic. While passive voice has legitimate uses in legal writing (focusing on action rather than actor), overuse creates unclear, evasive writing. Modern legal writing emphasizes active voice for clarity and directness.
Passive voice is sometimes appropriate in legal writing. Use passive voice when: the actor is unknown or irrelevant ('The store was burglarized'), you want to emphasize the action over the actor ('Taxes must be paid by April 15'), or you want to avoid assigning responsibility directly. However, passive voice is often a crutch for avoiding direct statements. 'Mistakes were made' avoids accountability. 'We made mistakes' is clearer and more honest. Use passive voice intentionally, not habitually.
Converting passive to active voice usually strengthens legal writing. Passive: 'The contract was breached by Defendant.' Active: 'Defendant breached the contract.' Passive: 'Payment shall be made within 30 days.' Active: 'Client shall pay within 30 days.' Passive: 'The motion is opposed by Plaintiff.' Active: 'Plaintiff opposes the motion.' Active voice is shorter, clearer, and more forceful. However, some passive constructions in legal writing are conventional ('Objection is overruled,' 'Judgment is hereby entered'). Focus on converting passive voice that obscures meaning or creates wordiness.
What You Get
Complete scan identifying all passive voice sentences
Highlighted passive constructions throughout document
Comment markers making passive voice easy to spot
Focus exclusively on passive voice (no other issues)
Systematic identification of passive patterns
How It Works
- 1Upload documentProvide legal document to scan
- 2AI scans for passive voiceOur AI identifies every passive sentence in 2-3 minutes
- 3Review highlighted sentencesSee comments marking each passive construction
- 4Convert to activeRevise passive sentences to active voice where appropriate
Frequently Asked Questions
Is all passive voice bad in legal writing?
No. Passive voice has legitimate uses when the actor is unknown, irrelevant, or when you want to emphasize the action. However, habitual passive voice makes writing unclear and wordy. The goal isn't eliminating all passive voice but using it intentionally rather than habitually. If you're using passive voice in 40% of sentences, you're probably overusing it. Modern legal writing authorities recommend active voice as the default with passive voice used selectively when appropriate.
How do I convert passive to active voice?
Identify who or what performs the action, then make that the subject. Passive: 'The contract was signed by both parties.' Active: 'Both parties signed the contract.' Passive: 'Payment shall be made by Client.' Active: 'Client shall pay.' Sometimes you need to add a subject if passive voice omitted it. Passive: 'The deadline was missed.' Active: 'Defendant missed the deadline' or 'Plaintiff missed the deadline' (identify who missed it). Adding the actor makes writing clearer and more accountable.
Why does legal writing traditionally use so much passive voice?
Historically, legal writing emphasized formality and impersonal tone, which passive voice provided. Traditional legal language like 'It is hereby ordered' and 'Payment shall be made' uses passive constructions. However, modern legal writing authorities (including Bryan Garner and the Federal Plain Writing Act) emphasize clarity over formality. While some passive constructions are conventional, overuse creates unclear, bureaucratic writing. Contemporary legal writing balances clarity with professional tone, using active voice as the default.
Will this tool suggest how to fix passive voice?
This tool identifies passive voice locations. Converting passive to active requires understanding the context and identifying the actor. For example, 'The motion was filed' might become 'Plaintiff filed the motion' or 'Defendant filed the motion' depending on who filed it. The tool shows you where passive voice appears so you can decide whether to convert it (and how) based on context, actor identity, and your stylistic goals. Focus on the most problematic passive constructions first.
How much passive voice is too much?
There's no precise rule, but if more than 20-30% of your sentences use passive voice, you're probably overusing it. Contracts and statutes tend to have more passive voice than briefs and memos. Some passive voice is inevitable and appropriate. The goal is being intentional about it rather than using passive voice by default. Use this tool to see your passive voice patterns. If nearly every sentence is passive, work on making writing more active and direct.
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