Lawyer Jargon & Client Confusion
As trial lawyers, we live in our trial lawyer space for several hours each day. It even follows us sometimes at night and wakes us up because our brains have been rewired in law school and even further into practice. Along the way, we’ve picked up legalese and legal jargon that we use when we get together with other lawyers or we talk to the court. That’s all fine when we’re in the lawyer world.
But once we move into dealing with our clients, especially in litigation cases where we prepare them for deposition, mediation, or trial, we need to make sure we’re not using legalese. Otherwise, it leaves our clients confused and it eventually leads to mistakes in their depositions, or even at mediations when they’re asked to talk – when all that could have been prevented. Therefore, communication is key with our clients.
In this episode, I’m going to share some common phrases that don’t really work well with our clients, as well as some alternative ways to better explain things to them. That way, they understand what we’re saying and they can move forward and follow advice. It does help to put in enough time and effort teaching people about depositions and organizing their stories in the most effective way possible.
In this episode, you will hear:
- Common phrases lawyers use that confuse clients
- Visualizing things for people
- Alternative statements you can use with your clients
- The fine line between explaining vs. oversharing
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Supporting Resources:
If you have a question or comment please let me know: elizabeth@larricklawfirm.com.
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Episode Transcript:
Elizabeth Larrick: Hello and welcome to a new episode of Trial Lawyer Prep with me, your host, Elizabeth Larrick. Thanks for joining us today for this episode about lawyer jargon and client confusion. Sometimes quite a bit. It’s like two ships passing in the night. [00:01:00] Communication is so key with our clients. And that’s why I want to spend this episode talking about some recent phrases that I’ve heard and that we use and maybe why they’re not working so well.
We are trial lawyers. We live in our trial lawyer space hours each day and it even follows us sometimes at night and wakes us up because our brains are been rewired in law school and even further into practice and along the way we’ve picked up legalese and legal jargon and we use it when we get together with other lawyers and we use it when we talk to gestures.
We use it when we talk to the court. And that’s all fine and well, because that’s in our lawyer world. And when we get together, we just love to give gab and throw those things around. And that’s awesome. That’s totally fine. But what I’m talking about is when we move into dealing with our clients, And when we’re, especially when we have litigation cases, and we are trying [00:02:00] to discuss with them what’s going on, or preparing for deposition, or maybe mediation, or trial, and we use some of these phrases, and we expect that they’re going to understand it, because again, This is how we normally talk, but they don’t.
And how problems can occur when we use the phrases and the clients get kind of tangled up and really do, do they, do I understand what that really means? Or just making a guess at what you mean when you say these things. So we use these phrases, we expect that the clients will understand them, but what really happens is obviously confusion.
They’re confused. They’ve brought a problem to you or they brought a concern to you, or maybe you’ve brought a concern to them and they’re not a hundred percent certain really what you’re saying because again, they don’t live in this world. So, there’s confusion and then you use one of these phrases and the clients don’t really want to [00:03:00] ask, what does that even mean?
Because you don’t want to appear dumb or ask again. So, at times, that means they’ll make mistakes, preventable mistakes in their Depositions, or even at mediations, when they’re asked to talk, sometimes clients will go try to find the answers in the wrong places, like on the internet, through YouTube, and what does this phrase mean?
And there’s a lot of times the internet’s obviously not clear and generally not correct. A lot of times clients will just ignore their lawyers. You give them confused. They don’t really have an answer. They’re going to go with their own answer, what they’re going to make assumptions about. And sometimes clients, when it comes to confusion and you give them an unclear answer, they’re just going to stick with, I don’t know, which can create even bigger problems when they do know the answer, but they just didn’t know that that’s, Oh, that’s the connection that you were hoping they would make, but they never made.
I don’t know if race can get us [00:04:00] all in trouble, especially depositions or mediation, because Supposed to know the answer, especially if you’ve got it. So we definitely don’t want to create holes. We definitely want to prevent mistakes when we can. So I just want to talk about some of the things that I have heard recently and most of these again are old school methods when it comes to preparing clients for their appearance for deposition or going into a mediation, anywhere where the client’s going to be present and we have to prepare them for that.
Even in trial, and most of these phrases, in my mind, are definitely fear based thoughts behind them, and my point of view is that let’s get rid of these. There’s a better way to do this. We are smart people. We are knowledge workers, and there are There are other ways to explain. There are ways to rephrase so clients can understand what we’re saying and they can learn and they can move forward and follow advice.
Because at the end of the day, [00:05:00] jurors are in the same boat. You can’t walk into trial and use legalese or use legal jargon and expect that they’re going to know. They’re just, yeah, they’ll be confused and then they’ll be confused. not very happy with you. And this is, most of this is from focus group work, right?
From trial work, but also from focus groups, because they’ll tell you. Once they listen to an opening statement, and then the other, the presenter leaves, and I start asking questions. They’re like, that was so confusing. I don’t even know what this thing is that they’re talking about. And so, that’s why I’m going to talk a little bit about that today, to try and help curb some of these things that are super confusing.
One of the things that I have heard recently was, paring for deposition is Telling the client to learn how to behave at a deposition. That one is very interesting to me. Learn how to behave. Depositions are question and answer and Most important thing is the answers, but this is just a curious one to me.
That’s really not what we’re doing for depositions is trying to teach someone [00:06:00] how to behave. Super confusing. What do you mean how to behave? So just know that one’s gonna pop up a lot of questions for people. We’re really not trying to Teach them how to behave, but more how to prepare for the questions, organize answers, feel comfortable, feel confident, and really understand what their role is when it comes to the deposition versus let me teach you how to behave.
Nope, that’s not what we’re here to do. I’ve also heard, and I’m sure we all have the do not volunteer, right? What does that even mean? Don’t volunteer. That goes along with the only answer. What is being asked? Isn’t that what we’re doing? Isn’t that what question answer? Isn’t that what it is? Super confusing.
If you’re trying to tell them don’t overshare, okay, that’s one thing, but we also need them to explain things. So again, just super confusing. Only answer what the question is being asked. [00:07:00] Wow. Okay. It seems like we’re, that seems like a simple phrase, lawyer friends, but I think it’s super confusing when you tell people something that’s like that obvious, like don’t like, wait a minute, what are we really trying to say here?
The other one would be, be short and complete. Well, that’s. It’s kind of the opposite. Sometimes being complete means I have to give my full thought, I have to give the full explanation, I have to give some backstory, I have to give context, and that ain’t short. So I don’t know how to be short and complete.
I think what all these things are trying to tell me to do is just to be complete. Don’t talk, yes or no, don’t say anything. And that’s really definitely in my mind, a detriment to the case when you are discouraging them from talking and you’re encouraging them to basically, Hey, just go in there and say as little as possible, which is another thing that we see in a kind of our old school mythology of preparing people.
Another one that I’ve heard recently [00:08:00] was this is not your day in court against the Super throwback kind of phrase, but it’s so, it’s so illusory because if you really sit down and think about at trial, your client is just one piece of the puzzle and a very important piece of the puzzle, but you’ve got experts, you’ve got, exhibits, you’ve got fact witnesses, you’ve got defendants and corporate reps, and you have this whole orchestra going on to make your symphony.
I think there’s a huge misconception, and once you actually explain to clients what a trial is, they’re thinking, hey, wait a minute, I don’t want this thing. That sounds horrible. I mean, I have to go sit for days in a courtroom and hear everyone talk about me, how I’m a liar, a cheat, and a fraud, or how my husband or my deceased Um, and then the next person is a liar, cheating, fraud.
Like, wait a minute. I don’t want to do that. That is not to me a day in court. And we also know like, jurors don’t want to hear clients get up on the stand and just [00:09:00] complain. They just don’t. They don’t want to hear complaints. The sympathy, they checked it at the door. They had to be there because they’re required by law and because your client drugged them there.
That’s really not the place. The trial is definitely not the place for them to Okay, here we go. Now’s my time to talk. And it’s not. So you saying, hey, this is not your day in court. Well, once we get there, it’s not then either, by the way. So, deposition is a great place. Let’s use this. Time to, it’s not their day in court since literally in the court, but it is their time to fulfill their role in the case, tell their story, and get it all out there.
And that may be that they have to be complete and explain. So, in thinking about, okay, how do we solve this problem? Hey, Elizabeth, this is This is just the way that I prepare people and I’ve never had a problem with this before. Oh, okay. Well, I mean have you ever been frustrated walking out or just maybe you just wash your hands the whole deposition is like Well, that was a [00:10:00] wash.
There’s ways to round this. Okay, one of the biggest things that I always talk about is visualizing things for people. 60 percent of people are visual learners and it could be as simple as writing, writing out, The style of the case and showing them the claims that they have and writing out the jury questions to really help orchestrate the conversation and teaching and learning that really make a big difference and Understanding like what the position of each of the people who are in the lawsuit that is also super helpful Deposition or trial like okay Let me get a visual on this because it’s hard for people to hold a concept in their mind and then you teach them So, uh, okay, hold this here and now keep holding it and now take in all these other thoughts now.
We really, we’re one track mind, so let’s, can keep it that way. So I want to take one of these phrases and redo it for you. All right, so let’s talk about do not volunteer. Happens often, [00:11:00] frequently. You’re telling, hey, hey, whatever happens, just don’t volunteer. Information. Don’t volunteer. Just don’t, don’t volunteer anything.
Okay, let’s go. Think of another way to say that, which would be, okay, first of all, you gotta give people context, right? So they know they’re walking into a deposition, but that’s all they really know. They’re going to be asked questions, so don’t volunteer. Okay, so first of all, let’s give them some context.
Okay, so in the deposition, you’re going to be asked lots of questions, right? You have lots of opportunity to answer questions, to give responses, to get your story out there, okay? So sometimes people feel pressured, right, to just get everything out of that first question, okay? So when you’re asked a question about When is your birthday?
You don’t have to say in, I was born in Sunnyside, Washington, and there was a blizzard outside and it was so cold and it was January and [00:12:00] okay, that’s a little bit of an overshare. Okay. So you got to give them the context. How is this going to come up for me? This don’t volunteer thing. Okay. So let’s give them some context, which is in the deposition.
You have lots of questions. We’re going to want to learn lots of things about you. if you have the right to explain, but there’s a fine line between oversharing. So let me give you an example. So you really want to help them give them context. How is this going to come up for them? You want to give them what it is that you’re teaching them, the right to explain versus oversharing and then examples, and then circle back around to make sure and check in with them to say, okay, do you get it?
What would be an example of that? Right? So test it out. You may be thinking, Elizabeth, that conversation could take 30 minutes for somebody. I know. [00:13:00] Think about once they get the concept of explain versus overshare, what a huge difference that makes in depositions. And once they understand that, and they’re going to show you their understanding, right?
Because you can ask them a question, make sure they do. You can ask them to give you an example of that. And then once you’ve gone through the concept. And they get it and they understand it, you can check in with them at any time. Is that explaining or do you feel like that’s oversharing? Boom. Instead of being super discouraging, tell them to do not volunteer.
Again, we, I always try to avoid telling people what not, what do not do something, right? Because it’s really, that’s the first thing they do. It’s confusing or because that’s what they’re focusing on not doing it and then they do it. There’s so many other ways that we can explain things to people and this is an easy way to do it.
Give them context. Because again, people are [00:14:00] stepping into our lawyer world. They don’t get what the context of a deposition is or a trial is or mediation is. So you got to give them context. Then you got to give them the concept that you’re trying to teach them, explaining versus oversharing, taking the question one at a time versus trying to answer hidden question or something you’re anticipating the next question, right?
Take one time. Let me give you an example of that. If you want to take another look, let me, let me tell you how that’s detrimental, right? Okay. And do you get it? Tell me about, tell it back to me or give me an example or let’s test it out. You can solidify that concept. Once you solidify it with them, you can always check in with them later and use again a mediation or even a trial.
It’s just a, it’s an easier way, I think, to teach something to our clients, have them understand it versus just throwing some of these phrases at people and just hoping for the best. And then when they don’t [00:15:00] do well, you’re just thinking, well, I told them what to do. Well, they didn’t get it. The comprehension wasn’t there.
These are. Context, concept, give an example, test it, ask questions about it. Really couple simple steps. And the nice thing is once you move through it one time, they are going to understand how you are going to keep teaching them about different things in the deposition or how to avoid problems in the deposition.
And again, that’s just going to roll over for you in different parts of the case. So this episode is about just check what we’re saying to people like check what we’re saying to our clients What is that legal jargon that you may be using with someone and are you causing confusion? Are you discouraging the client in some way to share or to be a part of the case and Why are we doing that?
Are we not putting enough time and effort into teaching people about [00:16:00] depositions and organizing their concepts and their stories? Either way, just take a step back, take a different approach because I, I bet you’re going to get a different result. And when you do, you’re going to feel so much better. The client is going to be so much happier and the case is going to be much better off.
It may take a little bit of extra time on the front end, but just think about once you get that set. Instead of saying don’t volunteer, now you go through this concept with everybody that you talk to because you’re probably going to find, wow, that one problem, people oversharing, or people talking too much, is my biggest worry in a deposition.
And Because it’s my biggest worry, I use all these little things and I throw them at people. It’s not your day in court. Don’t volunteer. Be short and complete. Only answer the question that’s asked. All [00:17:00] those things are just saying shhh. Saying. It’s kind of subtle, but it’s kind of not. So, I’m just saying, hey, just take a step back, think about it.
If you can solve this one problem, Right? This oversharing, over talking, they won’t stop talking. How much better would you sleep at night? If you could just change this one thing about client depositions, it could really significantly change the way you work and the way clients feel about you. So I just test it out.
It may work for you. It may be a little clumsy on the first get go. The clients are going to appreciate just you stopping and explaining a little bit, trying to give some context to it. They’re going to see that you’re trying to teach them and they’re going to appreciate that all the more. Versus just throwing some instructions at them in legally.
So, all right, let me know how it goes Shoot me an email [00:18:00] put a comment put a review in or rate this on your favorite podcast app I appreciate all of your encouragement and I appreciate any review that you are going to do And if you have a suggestion for a topic or you have a question, please email me I’d love to put podcast episode.
All right. Thank you