Real-Life Communication
Law is sometimes a hodgepodge of big words and long sentences. We
may sometimes forget, though, that although the language of law can be tricky,
lawyers are doing their job the best way they know how.
You're an environmental
lawyer for the Love and Daigle law office. It's the night before an endangered
species case. In this case, the defendant is Ethel Bloggs, who has been illegally
selling near-extinct mountain goats.
Apparently, for the last nine
years she has had these rare goats shipped (by sea) from South America to
New York and sold at her world-famous Livestock Super Sale.
Here is
the section of the Endangered Species Act you're interested in:
....With
respect to any endangered species of fish or wildlife listed pursuant to section
1533 of this title it is unlawful for any person subject to the jurisdiction
of the United States to -
(A) import any such species into, or export
any such species from the United States;
(B) take (Section 3(19) and
Section 3(3)) any such species within the United States or the territorial
sea of the United States;
(C) take any such species upon the high seas;
(D)
possess, sell, deliver, carry, transport, or ship, by any means whatsoever,
any such species taken in violation of subparagraphs (B) and (C);
(E)
deliver, receive, carry, transport, or ship in interstate or foreign commerce,
by any means whatsoever and in the course of a commercial activity, any such
species;
(F) sell or offer for sale in interstate or foreign commerce
any such species; or
(G) violate any regulation pertaining to such
species or to any threatened species of fish or wildlife listed pursuant to
section
(United States Endangered Species Act, Sect.1538 Prohibited
Acts)
Your job is to cut through all the legal mumbo-jumbo
and identify three areas where Ms. Bloggs broke the law. You must then take
the clauses and rewrite them in your own words and in a way a jury can understand.
When
you rewrite, make sure to simplify, then expand. Say in a nutshell what law
was broken and tell the jury what permitting this kind of behavior can result
in.
"We have to communicate our findings and positions to a judge or
jury and communication skills are vital," says environmental lawyer James
D. Bell. "Of course, we're expected to speak at least as coherently as we
write."