Possible hindrances of effective communication for junior lawyers and measures to mitigate them.

INTRODUCTION

Communication is a process of transferring knowledge, ideas or message and thoughts from a sender to a receiver through the use of a channel. For communication to be complete there must be three things (sender, message and recipient or receiver) which enable communication. There is different categories of communication include, verbal communication, non-verbal communication, written communication and visualization communication. 

Verbal communication involves direct talk or face to face talk, telephone, television, radio, and other means of communication. Non-verbal communication do not use words, it is gestures, emotions or body language which convey message to another. Written communication involves the use of written documents like letters, e-mails, social media, books, magazines etc. Visualization communication use graphs and charts, maps, logos and other visualizations to communicate messages.

Communication may look simple, but it very tough to clearly convey message to another person or group of people. Proper communication need skilled person to identify a proper language to be used against a particular group of people, mode of communication to send message, and a type of message to be conveyed to another. Without being skilled to identify elements of proper communication, one may fail to convey a message in a way it was intended to be.

For instance, in choosing a language, one must consider recipients of his/her information, you cannot use tough language if your recipients are children. One must use a kind of language which is proper for recipients to understand.

POSSIBLE HINDRANCES OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION FOR JUNIOR LAWYERS

Communication is not that much simple, there are barriers which may hinder effective communication to junior lawyers as follows;

Legal language is very complicated and tough to understand, the use of jargon (complicated legal terms) hinder effective communication to junior lawyers , legal language is archaic, wordy, redundant and use a lot of negation in explaining concepts. Communicating legal message to public is very difficult because non-lawyers cannot easily understand legal terminologies and that hinder effective communication.

Physical and physiological barriers include distance, poor or malfunctioning equipment, bad hearing, speech impediment and poor eye sight. Un-availability of communication tools may affect distance communication for a young lawyer.

Information overload and lack of focus, too much information at a same time may confuse audience, and this may hinder proper communication for a junior lawyer. Audience, easily understand few and well organized information.

Not being prepared and lack of credibility. To communicate a message or information to audience, one need to be prepared to deliver credible facts, mere words without facts and evidence may hinder effective communication between people.

Lack of attention, interest, distractions, or irrelevance to the receiver also hinder communication between parties, communication to be complete, a recipient must receive and understand the message of a sender, no communication if message was not understood.

MEASURES TO EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

To communicate effectively, one must follow and abide a number of rules and principles include the following;

Know your audience. By knowing your audience, one became elite on language to use, mode of communication and type of information to communicate. Failure to know your audience may hinder communication by giving information in a way which do not suit nature of your audience.

Use plain and understand-able language, to communicate effectively, especially lawyers, one need to use simple plain language which is easy to understand and not complicated compare to legal language which is too complicated.

Speak clearly and concisely, speaking clearly can sometimes be a problem since not everyone actually takes the time to improve in diction or word usage, but to audience with basing knowledge of language can understand easily clean language.

CONCLUSION

To communicate effectively, know your audience, mode of communication and type of message to communication. Use simple language that can be easily understood by your audience and make sure to get feedback so as you can assess if your message received as you intended. No communication if audience fails to understand the message.

REFERENCE

BOOKS

K.Horgan, (2004), Get into through eight communication barrier, U.S.A

Berlo,D.K, (1960) The process of communication, Winston,New York

Marilyn.L, (2003) College of Communication, Graw Hill Camp, New York

ONLINE SOURCES

https://www.businessknowhow.com/growth/effective-communication.htm

http://www.pathlegal.in/Why-is-legal-language-so-complicated--blog-1048999

http://delfiugoconsulting.com/top-10-barriers-to-effective-communication/

https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/what-is-communication.html