Real-Life Communication
Paralegals use communication skills all the time. They get to talk
with all sorts of people -- from clients to attorneys to court officials --
and explain to clients what's going on in their case so the proceedings and
papers are clear.
"Communication is probably the most important skill
in the legal profession, regardless of whether you are talking about verbal
or written communication skills," says Celia Elwell, a litigation paralegal.
"Ideas, instructions and questions must be understood or they're not effective.
I follow a philosophy that is somewhat related to Murphy's Law: Whatever can
be misunderstood will be!"
Lawyers seem to write in their own incomprehensible
language -- it's wordy, dull, pompous and unclear. It's filled with archaic
terms like "forthwith" and "herein" and other terminology taken from dead
languages.
A client gets a letter and calls you up in a panic, completely
confused. You have to sift through the legal mumbo-jumbo and give them the
straight goods.
The letter below gives you some information about your
client's probate case, but you want the instructions to make sense. Before
you relay the letter to your client you want to rewrite the legalese into
plain old English.
Do the translation now using an ordinary dictionary.
You should be able to shorten the letter by a hundred words or so. "Letters
of Administration" means formal authority for somebody to administer the estate
of a person who has died.
Letter
Enclosed
herein please find one (1) original and one (1) copy of the Petition for Letters
of Administration in the above-referenced matter. I have sent the same to
your address via Federal Express, as you had earlier requested. Please review
the same, and should same meet with your approval, attach your signature thereto
and return same to my office.
Upon my receipt of said Petition, I will
obtain the signature of Mr. Brown, file same with the Court, and have the
hearing date set for the issuance of the Letters of Administration. As we
discussed, it will not be necessary for you to attend said hearing although
I will require the presence of Mr. Brown.
As we have discussed, please
forward all documents reflecting expenses due and owing in the Estate to this
office so that, following the issuance of the Letters of Administration, I
may establish an Estate bank account and begin the process of payment of same.
Pursuant to your request, this account will require two signatures, your signature
and that of your mother, for the issuance of all checks.
(Letter reproduced
by permission. Practical Legal Writing for Legal Assistants, by Celia Elwell
and Robert Smith; Delmar Publishers, Albany, New York, Copyright 1996)