I recently listened to a podcast where the owner of a multi-million dollar business broke down because they had spent a day with their lawyers the past week and walked away feeling stupid because they didn’t understand what was being discussed.
My takeaway from that: you need to get better lawyers.
A lawyer who cannot explain a complicated legal situation to a client in words the client understands may doing this because:
- They don’t understand the situation themselves, so they’re reading from a precedent and using words they don’t understand;
- They are a young lawyer who believes that if they don’t use big words, they are not being a lawyer;
- They believe that they are the smartest person in the room and don’t care if you understand;
- They were never mentored to get to know the client and explain complicated legal situations in Plain English that the client will understand.
Honestly, I find the last one confusing, because even when I went to law school in the late 80s, we were taught at Osgoode Hall to write and speak to a Grade 10 level as a starting point, to ensure that everyone understood what we were saying (including Judges).
In our firm, we pride ourselves on explaining complicated situations to clients using Plain English and we draft our documents as simply as possible and answer all questions so a client knows what they are signing.
If you need an interpreter to understand the advice your lawyer gives you, it’s time to end that relationship: it’s you, not them.
Inga B. Andriessen, Senior Lawyer