THIS IS A PERSONAL ACCOUNT Assistant District Attorney General - Trial attorney handling criminal cases. Opinions my own.
Law students, If you are going into trial work, you need to lose jargon and legal speak. Jargon is part of every profession, trade, and occupation, but it is specific to those areas and isn't helpful for communication with those not part of the group. Legal speak makes you sound like a lawyer. Prized by law schools and appellate courts, legal speak is a death blow to your case. Juries are not made up of law professors and appellate judges. Jargon and legal speak - the temptation to use both is real. Don't. #lawstudents
And if they can't lose jargon and legal speak in a court trial, they can come practice in Europe. We don't have juries. 🙂
Luckily that in Civil Law (THAILAND) We don't have juries. 😁
Same in the nursing field. If you come into a patient's room speaking medical-ese, you are going to create some big problems for yourself.
I remember 15+ years ago giving a practice argument in my firm’s trial training program as a first year lawyer. As part of the feedback, Kevin O'Gorman said something like most courts probably aren’t going to understand what “this case and its progeny” means, so you may want to drop that. Good advice!
Good point. Also, remember to start thinking and acting like a normal person again. I think some of the role models for law students are out of touch with what’s happening on the street and this hurts any law students who’d like to do trial work.
I would add that this isn't something that should be limited to trial attorneys—same goes in transactional contexts too.
Using jargon is never advised. No matter what field you're in. When communicating to somebody outside your field, you need to simplify it.
The audience is the key. Communication depends on reaching the audience. Great advice.
J.D. Candidate at Penn State Dickinson Law
10moMiller Leonard I frequently think about this. If I as a law student have a tough time deciphering the meaning of a statute, how is John Q. Public going to know if their actions are legal or not? How is a jury supposed to evaluate the elements of a crime if they are presented to them riddled with Latin phrases? Law is a profession rife with gatekeeping, which is great for job security but terrible for interacting with the general public. In my opinion, the measure of mastery is being able to communicate a complex topic to a person with no background in it and having them understand at a base level. I believe that is also the hallmark of a good trial attorney.