Proofreading is the final check of a piece of writing for spelling, grammar, punctuation and formatting errors before it is published or sent. For law firms it now has a second job: catching the confident sounding mistakes that AI drafting tools introduce.
Whether you’re drafting an important client email, crafting a social media post, or writing a blog on the latest legal development, typos and grammatical errors can detract from your message and undermine your credibility. In a professional industry where clients are paying for precision, a misspelt name in a letter or a wrong date in a case update does real damage to trust. That’s why mastering the art of proofreading is essential for anyone striving to produce polished and professional content.
We’ve put together 10 simple proofreading tips to help you ensure your writing is typo-free, with a new tip for the AI era and a pre-publish checklist at the end. They apply to everything from content marketing to court correspondence too.
1. Take a break before proofreading
After completing your writing, step away from it for a while, if time allows. Taking a break before proofreading allows you to approach your work with fresh eyes, making it easier to spot errors that you might have overlooked while writing. Even ten minutes on another matter helps. If you write blogs in batches, draft one week and proofread the next; our 10 blog ideas for law firms is a useful way to build that content pipeline.
2. Read aloud
Reading your writing aloud engages a different part of your brain and helps you catch errors more effectively. Pay close attention to each word as you read, listening for awkward phrasing, missing words, or grammatical inconsistencies. This is the quickest way to catch the over-long sentences lawyers are prone to, so, if you run out of breath, split it.
3. Proofread backwards
Start at the end of your document and work your way backwards, sentence by sentence. This sounds strange but the technique forces you to focus on individual words rather than getting caught up in the flow of the narrative, making it easier to spot typos and spelling mistakes.
4. Use AI and grammar tools as a first pass, never the last
AI has changed this tip completely. Clio’s UK and Ireland Legal Insights Report 2026 found that nearly nine in ten legal professionals now use AI in some capacity, with 70% adopting it in the last year along. Tools such as Microsoft Copilot in Word, Grammarly, Chat GPT and Claude are excellent first-pass proofreaders: paste in a draft and ask for spelling, grammar and consistency errors and they will find most of them in seconds.
What they cannot do is take responsibility for the results. AI tools rewrite as well as correct, so they can quietly change a defined term, soften a deliberately firm sentence or ‘fix’ a legal phrase that was incorrect. In Ayinde v London Borough of Haringey, the High Court warned the profession about fabricated citations appearing in court documents, and the SRA’s duties on competence and supervision have not changed because the drafting tool has. Treat AI output as a first draft from a capable trainee: useful, fast and always checked by a human before it leaves the building.
Generally, never paste confidential or privileged client material into a consumer AI tool; a May 2026 Censuswide survey for Access Legal found 59% of UK legal professionals had used unauthorised AI tools and client work, which is a governance problem as much as a proofreading one. Second, when AI has drafted something, proofread it harder, not softer. We set out where the line sits in AI or Human? Where each belongs in a professional services firm.
5. Print it out
There’s not much we print out these days, but reading a hard copy of your writing can reveal errors that may have gone unnoticed on screen. This might be particularly useful if you are creating content which will be in printed form in its final version (such as brochures, magazine copy or event invitations). Grab a pen and annotate any mistakes or areas that need improvement as you review the printed version.
6. Focus on one type of error at a time
Instead of trying to catch every type of mistake all at once, focus on one aspect of proofreading at a time. For example, dedicate one pass to checking for spelling errors, another for grammar and punctuation, and a third for clarity and coherence. For legal content adda a fourth pass for facts: names, dates figures, case citations and statutory references. These are the errors that matter most and the ones spell checkers never catch.
7. Pay attention to formatting
In addition to checking for spelling and grammar errors, ensure that your formatting is consistent throughout the document. Check for issues such as inconsistent font styles, spacing errors and alignment issues. On the web, formatting also means headings, links and images. A broken link or a heading in the wrong style undermines a piece just as much as a typo, and both hurt how search engines and AI tools read the page.
8. Beware of homophones and legal near-misses
Homophones are words that sound alike but have different meanings and spellings (e.g., “there,” “their,” and “they’re”). Be vigilant in ensuring that you’ve used the correct word in context, as spell checkers may not always flag these errors. Legal writing has its own traps that pass every automated check: ‘principal’ and ‘principle’, ‘affect’ and ‘effect’, ‘council’ and ‘counsel’, ‘practice’ and ‘practise’, ‘trustee’ and ‘trustees’. Keep a firm-wide list of the ones that tend to catch your team out.
9. Read in different formats
Change the format of your document to view it in different ways, such as changing the font size or style. This can help you identify errors that may have been overlooked in the original format. For anything going out by email, send yourself a test and read it on your phone. Most of your recipients will, and layout problems show up there first. See our guide to email marketing for law firms for more information.
10. Get a second opinion
Finally, consider enlisting the help of a trusted friend, colleague, or professional proof reader to review your writing. Fresh perspectives can often uncover errors that you might have missed, ensuring that your content is polished and professional. For thought leadership pieces the second reader should ideally be a non-lawyer, who will spot the jargon a lawyer no longer notices. That matters a lot, as clients increasingly choose the lawyer whose writing they can actually follow and understand, which is the whole premise of building a reputation through thought leadership.
Before you publish: a proofreading checklist for law firm content
- Names, dates figures and citations checked against the source
- Read aloud once, backwards once
- AI or grammar tool run, and every suggested change reviewed rather than accepted in bulk
- No confidential client detail, even anonymised, without sign-off
- Homophones and legal near-misses checked against your law firm’s list
- Headings, links and images tested on desktop and mobile
- Second reader signed off; ideally a non-lawyer for public facing thought leadership content
- Scheduled, not rushed: if you use a social media scheduling tool, proofread the post in the tool, not just the draft
Proofreading and content creation FAQs
What is the difference between proofreading and editing?
Editing improves the structure, argument and tone of a piece; proofreading is the final check for surface errors once the content is ready. You should do them separately.
Can AI proofread legal documents
AI tools can catch most spelling, grammar and consistency errors quickly, but they can also introduce changes of meaning and cannot verify facts or citations. A qualified human must check anything sent to a client or a court.
How long should proofreading take?
As a rule of thumb, allow a quarter of the time it took to write. A 600-word blog needs 15 to 20 minutes of proper proofreading, including one read aloud.
Who should proofreading law firm marketing content?
The author first, then someone who did not write. For public-facing thought leadership content, a marketing colleague or agency is often better placed than a second lawyer, because they read as the client will.
Let us take the burden off you
We support law firms firms with every stage of content creation and management, from planning what to write and drafting it in your voice, to editing, proofreading, publishing and reporting on how it performs. Whether you need an extra pair of eyes before something goes out or a team to run your content programme end to end, we can help with marketing for law firms.
Call 01903 530 787 or submit an enquiry via our contact form and a member of our team will be in touch shortly.