A New Model for Legal Communication: Sensory Experience and Representational Systems

Abstract

This article presents a model for improving oral legal communication. The discussion demonstrates how human beings create sensory-based models of the parts of the world they experience, and how these models affect the communication process. The three principal sensory-based channels of communication (visual, auditory, and kinesthetic) are described, and the article explains how both the knowledge and use of these channels can improve the rapport and information functions of legal communication. Emphasis is placed on the lawyer’s ability to recognize the world model of the people with whom he communicates and to adapt his own process of communication to ensure that he is communicating clearly with all parties involved. A lawyer’s communication should very depending upon whether the communication is with an individual or a group. The article concludes by showing how these principles of communication may be used in the preparation and trial of a legal case.

Keywords: Communication, communication skills, sensory based language, legal communication, lawyer, rapport, rapport building, law, legal, representational systems, representational language, hypnosis, meta model, visual, auditory, kinesthetic, eye movements, sensory channels, predicates, NLP, Neuro-linguisti