What Is The Importance Of Communication With Your Lawyer?

Friday, April 28, 2023

     It is often said that good communication is an art, not a science. It is something you have to analyze and tailor specifically, something that has to be adjusted from person to person, and there is no real formula you can memorize for a one-size-fits-all solution. This is no less true in the wide world of law and lawyers, where written and oral communication are heavily relied on. You need to be able to understand how to relay information well, and equally importantly, your lawyers need to be able to communicate effectively so that any and all dealings proceed smoothly and swiftly.

What Is The Importance Of Communication With Your Lawyer?
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Basics

     Let us first take a look at what the basics of effective communication actually are. There are many different forms of it, like writing an email or a letter to your personal injury lawyer after you got into an accident you didn't need to have, for example, or speaking with them face-to-face, or perhaps on the phone. It is all communication, and they are all dealt with differently, with their own quirks and little details you have to know, even if you are only a client and not on the legal team. Most people don’t give communication much thought, brushing it aside as something completely inconsequential and unimportant, a sentiment that can go as far back as law school. This is obviously wrong, as no matter your profession, chances are much of your day is spent communicating with others, so you simply cannot afford to be bad at it. You have to understand how to effectively convey information or a message while making sure that your recipient understands your intention and the purpose behind it. Effective communication is all about how you say something, why you are saying it, the timing, your body language, and so on.

Oral Communication

     This is where ideas and information are expressed verbally. To be effective at this, you should be able to communicate concisely, clearly, respectfully, and completely. As previously mentioned, you have to have the ability to adjust your mannerisms and communication techniques depending on the receiver of your information. This is vital for every walk of life; knowing who you have in front of you and how to talk to them accordingly is a skill that the fewest effectively wield. Lawyers have a lot of work, so the better you can relay all the necessary information, the quicker they can get back to working on your case and representing you to the best of their abilities. On the other hand, lawyers, law clerks, and the like also have to know how to explain information to a client who has quite possibly recently experienced serious hardship or trauma and how the method differs from clients who have not. On a small side note, awareness and understanding of cultural and societal differences are also extremely helpful when dealing with people, understanding their points of view, and so on.

Written Communication

     Now, this is perhaps less important for you as a client and more important for the legal team to know, but as we are classifying and breaking down communication as a whole, this bears a little illumination. Being able to write effectively is essential if the lawyers want to competently represent you and your case in the industry. They have to be very good at conveying meaning to their audience in a concise and clear manner, so of course, to start with, the basic, conventional rules of grammar and syntax have to be followed, as the last thing a lawyer wants to deal with while representing his client is stammering over a simple grammar mistake that could have been easily avoided. But it is also necessary to know that merely good grammar and syntax are not enough to magically make the writing effective.

Style in Written Communication

     Proper style in written communication is incredibly important as well, to ensure that the document is clear and fulfills its purpose. When we talk about style here, we are referring to how a writer expresses the intended meaning through the effective arrangement and usage of words, sentences, phrases, and numbers. We also refer to the overall tone and organization of the document in question. Some good basic tips to follow to develop a good writing style are trying to simplify the writing, trim down on the fat, so to speak, organize it all in an effective manner, and make sure that the tone of the document is courteous, professional, and appropriate for the intended audience, whoever they may be.

The Process

     We all communicate. Practically everything on this planet does it—humans, animals, and even plants—in their own way. We speak, read, write, gesticulate, and use body language; they are all methods of communication, and we spend the majority of our day doing them, which usually involves a lot more than just one person. For example, as you are reading this, it becomes a form of communication between the person who wrote it and you, or perhaps you are making a point in college with your professor. Now, sometimes you may feel your attempt at communication feels unsuccessful, but even then, the person you addressed still received your message, but maybe they aren’t listening, don’t fully understand you, aren’t responding in a manner to your liking, or maybe they aren’t responding at all. This signifies that your message isn’t getting through to your communication’s recipient for some reason, but even the lack of a response or an inappropriate response is, in a way, still a form of feedback on your message.

     Effective communication is one of the most valuable skills you can have, regardless of your occupation or position, so overcoming those barriers that lie between us and really seeing who you are talking to is something you should keep working on. There is no place where this is more important than when you are communicating with your lawyer, who is trying to work your case for you and needs the best information possible while wasting as little time as possible.

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