# 20 Deadliest Words and Phrases 

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Take a look at the next two or three letters, e-mails, and memos that cross your desk.

Do they sing out with clarity and precision? Or do they sound as if they were written by a lawyer in a Charles Dickens novel? Worse yet: do they sound like they were written by a lawyer in your own company?

True, lawyers are there to protect you, to dot the i’s, to think of everything. But you are there to deal with the customer, and part of that means writing in such a way that you come across as human, caring, succinct, up to date, and personal.

As someone who teaches on-site seminars in “Effective Business Writing for Claims Professionals,” I read hundreds of denial letters, letters to physicians, letters to opposing attorneys, letters to insurance commissioners, and letters to a variety of claimants and vendors. Rarely do I see a letter that completely avoids what I call the “20 Deadliest” words and phrases