Communicourt are the sponsor of this year’s Yorkshire Legal Awards Criminal Law category. Working in courts across Yorkshire (and beyond), their intermediaries frequently see the outstanding work of our region’s legal practitioners first-hand. We are excited to celebrate this work and spread awareness of communication needs and available adaptations in legal proceedings.
Below you’ll find an introduction to the impact of communication needs at court, and information about identifying communication difficulties in your practice. Scroll to the bottom for a range of free resources for legal practitioners working with clients who have communication needs, including guides to topics like working with an autistic client and a free CPD webinar.
How do communication needs impact participation in court?
For legal professionals, “Legalese” is probably a second language, which makes it easy to forget that court proceedings can be very challenging for anyone to follow. When an individual has a communication difference or difficulty, participating effectively in proceedings becomes yet more challenging still.
Academics have long argued over the meaning of “effective participation”. In very basic terms, Communicourt’s view is that to participate effectively in proceedings, a person must be able to:
- Focus on, identify, understand and remember key points raised in the courtroom
- Understand advice and information in legal conferences
- Express their instructions clearly
- Make informed decisions, and demonstrate an understanding of that decision
- Understand and answer questions clearly (if giving evidence)
Difficulty with one or more of these steps can lead to a host of issues in legal proceedings, from breakdowns in relationships with legal teams to deferral (in error) to forceful assertions during evidence.
Who has communication needs at court?
There are many different reasons why a court user may have difficulty with one or all of the steps above. Sometimes these difficulties relate to an existing diagnosis. For example, a court user with a learning disability may find it especially difficult to understand the specialist vocabulary, complex sentences and fast speech rate commonly used in the courtroom.
However, people with communication differences and difficulties do not always have a diagnosis. This may be due to underdiagnosis (e.g., autism remains underdiagnosed in adult women) or lack of access to support and services over an individual’s lifetime.
What to look out for
As one of the first and most frequent points of contact, solicitors are often best placed to identify possible communication difficulties, but this isn’t always easy with busy caseloads (and without a speech and language therapy degree!).
Some common signs of a communication difficulty which you may notice include (but are not limited to):
- Difficulty understanding or remembering information. A client may nod or indicate they have understood to mask a difficulty, or because they do not realise they have misunderstood. Asking ‘comprehension questions’ like “Can you explain the ICO to me?” is a good way to check
- Struggling to maintain attention. They may appear restless and fidgety or have difficulty remaining focussed during meetings. They may be easily frustrated or ‘zone out’ of discussions
- Frequently digressing from the topic of conversation to speak about less relevant subjects. They may speak at length or have difficulty moving on to discuss other matters
- Giving unclear instructions or accounts. They may give jumbled accounts or provide information in a way which is unclear, hesitant or inconsistent. They may have difficulty finding the words to explain themselves
- Giving very limited responses. They may give ‘yes’ ‘no’ answers, or communicate non-verbally by shrugging or shaking their head. They may find it difficult to engage effectively, show understanding or give information
Arranging support
If you are concerned about your client’s communication, we strongly recommend referring them for an intermediary assessment. The assessment will explore al