Part 1: Behavioral Economics and Legal Business

There’s a science to changing minds and changing behaviors—and Maya Markovich has studied it. She combines her Masters in social and organizational psychology with her JD and practice experience in her role at Nextlaw Labs, a global legal technology accelerator and innovation catalyst. In this three-part interview, Maya explains what drives behavior and why understanding it matters in the legal profession today.

When a law student graduates from law school, they quickly realize there is more to learn than what law school taught them. WordRake recently spoke with Michael Bloom, founder of Praktio, an online learning platform for lawyers. Michael is a former lawyer and law school professor turned tech entrepreneur.

A strong writer doesn’t just deliver information, she convinces you of its veracity and value. A strong communicator doesn’t just talk, she listens to uncover and understand her audience’s needs. The most successful professionals and executives do both. Together, these skills make you a trusted leader. And whether you are trusted to lead is the difference between a rainmaker and a service partner. If you dream of becoming a power player, this interview is for you.

Being busy does not mean you’re being productive. If you work long hours struggling to complete your to-do list each day, but you aren’t reaping the rewards of your work, then you may be busy—not productive.

Effectively communicating about complex topics like health, law, and finance requires that we think about what we know and who else needs to know it. The problem arises when we stop the process after verifying our knowledge—and without getting to the reader’s needs. It happens because experts often conflate communicating accurately with communicating clearly. But they’re not the same.

In this engaging interview, Ben Riggs confronts the assumptions that lead to unclear communication and shows us the empathy that we should have for readers facing life-changing decisions. Read on for Ben’s lessons in plain language and health communication through storytelling.

When it comes to plain language, law and finance are two of the industries most reluctant to change. But changing gets easier when you have a plain language partner who knows how to guide the transition. That’s where plain language expert Andrew Pegler excels. He converts legal contracts and business reports to plain English, then trains the organization’s lawyers and staff to do the same.

Andrew has built his career convincing corporations and law firms that plain language has brand advantages, then helping them write in a new way. Andrew’s work is a study in successful change management. He delivers his plain English workshops at an appropriate level, respects and develops the existing knowledge and skills of staff, and provides useable writing and editing tips and techniques. 

We spoke with Andrew about plain language in law. In this interview, you’ll learn how plain language is a brand advantage and get eight tips for using plain language in your own writing. Read on for Andrew’s lessons.

Have you ever considered that legalese might be a barrier to lawyers’ understanding, too? Once lawyers get outside of their practice area, the language they encounter feels like confusing legal jargon. This makes it harder for lawyers to volunteer to help everyday people who need legal services. So even when there’s the desire to help—and an elegant, streamlined structure to facilitate helping, like Paladin—confusing legal language still diminishes lawyers’ ability to provide legal services.

It’s eye-opening to discover that legal jargon confuses lawyers, too. And it’s heartbreaking to realize how that impacts access to justice. But access to justice entrepreneurs Felicity Conrad and Kristen Sonday are changing that. They’ve built a technology platform to help legal teams run more efficient pro bono programs, and as part of that effort, they’ve tackled how access to justice is wrapped up in jargon.

We spoke with Felicity and Kristen about how plain language impacts access to justice. In this interview, they illustrate how language is an ever-present issue: from top-25 languages that are entirely unrepresented in law; to legal euphemisms that obscure the social justice implications of laws; to the legalese that makes it hard for lawyers to help the public. These insights will make you re-think what you think you know about legal communication. Read the interview now.

Plain language expert Russell Willerton believes that professionals have an ethical imperative to write plainly in certain situations. He hopes to get us to spend less energy talking “at” someone and more energy talking “with” someone in a true dialogue. Put simply: Some situations require more care than others.

Unfortunately, many of us never consider how a reader comes to information in their lives and the outside factors that may impede their ability to comprehend the message. We think only about what we want to say and we forget about the reader’s human needs. To address that problem, Russell created the BUROC framework (Bureaucratic, Unfamiliar, Rights-Oriented, and Critical) to identify situations in which audiences would benefit from plain language.

We spoke with Russell to learn more about how plain language relates to access to justice and empathy for the reader. In this interview, Russell illustrates how unclear language is a barrier to understanding and harms decision-making. Read on for more insight on plain language and justice.

Consider the consequences of unclear communication. It’s more than closing a browser window in frustration or scratching your head in confusion. In this straightforward interview, plain language expert Barbra Kingsley, PhD gives real-world examples of how misunderstanding seriously harms people.

Barbra’s interview is a wake-up call to professionals, people in power positions, and governments. When people encounter information they don’t understand, they don’t keep searching—they give up. We have an ethical obligation to help them before that happens. We do that through plain language. Read on as Barbra makes a convincing case for plain language in law, health, finance, and anywhere important rights are at stake.

Plain language helps people to find what they need, understand what they find, and have enough information to act on and meet their needs. The intersection where health and law meet seems like one of the least likely places where you’d find plain language. But Professor Christopher Trudeau is changing that.

We spoke with Chris about plain language and health literacy. In this interview, Chris explains how “every facet of modern life can be improved or enhanced by plain language” and shares what he’s learned from his research. Read on for Chris’s plain language insight.