Hi Helen, You might try thinking about the process differently. Instead of “dreading” it, regard it just as something you have to do, kind of like brushing your teeth. It may be a bit boring but it’s necessary. I never fuss about the fact-checking process. To me, it’s just like making my bed. Something I do every day….

Glad to help, Heather. (Sorry, I hadn’t spotted your comment earlier which is why it took me so long to reply.)

Happy to help!

You make an excellent point, Rebecca. I’m hoping it might help Amanada, below.

Amanda, take a look at Rebecca’s suggestion, above, for enforcing deadlines. My hunch is that if you put the deadline in the subject line and then reinforced it with a message that nothing could be changed after that point, you might get a bit more cooperation.

Amanda, you need to speak with someone really senior in your company and have them address this issue. It strikes me that someone in law and someone in senior management might need to review your draft TOGETHER. The other issue is to evaluate how serious the issue is. If you’re writing for an employee publication, for example, there are unlikely to be few issues where law is really that important. I KNOW lawyers think they are the most important people in the company but they’re usually really bad at producing readable copy. Someone senior at your company really needs to evaluate the issue here. It’s your boss’s job to tell you who has the final word. Make sure they do that!