This final orientation chapter in Part I explores how a legal system that fails to account for comprehension asymmetries can exacerbate preexisting impediments to cooperative communication. After identifying those legal settings where comprehension asymmetries are likely to be most severe, the chapter concludes by suggesting general reforms that strengthen the speakers' incentives to communicate cooperatively with their audience.

Nobel prize-winning economist Herbert Simon warned more than 70 years ago that if we did not find a way to manage the flood of information that threatens to overwhelm us, we would find ourselves unable to make sense of it. This short introductory chapter explores the various ways that legal architects have failed to heed Simon's warning in legal areas as diverse as consumer protection, financial regulation, patents, chemical control, and administrative and legislative process. A number of significant legal programs in the U.S. are designed to facilitate the sharing of complete information, yet these programs often neglect to ensure that the information is also comprehensible to the target audience.