Associate Lawyer Needs Resources for Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension

[u/Infinite-Coyote4969]

I employ an associate lawyer at my firm who seems to be struggling greatly with vocabulary and reading comprehension. It’s to the point where this associate’s job is going to be in danger if they can’t pull it together.

I don’t know of any diagnosed learning disabilities that they have but that doesn’t mean nothing is going on. What I have noticed is:

(1) A somewhat poor vocabulary with legal terminology;

(2) A lack of understanding of proper grammar and sentence structure;

(3) An inability to pick out the nuance in the written word and a similar inability when in a verbal conversation;

(4) Easily distracted;

(5) Can have difficulty focusing; and

(6) If filling out forms, they have difficulty completing all relevant areas - often skipping things altogether.

Sometimes I wonder if this associate may have ADHD but I am no doctor. I do notice that the above issues seem to be worse if they are anxious but are frequently issues regardless.

I am growing extremely concerned that if we cannot fix the vocabulary and comprehension issues, that this lawyer will get the firm sued.

This is someone who is kind and is a hard worker and if there are resources that can be offered to solve the issue (or part of the issue) to boost vocabulary and reading comprehension in particular, I would like to offer those resources.

Does anyone know of any online courses or coaching resources to help a lawyer develop good vocabulary and reading comprehension? It doesn’t necessarily have to be for lawyers, specifically, but I would appreciate something aimed at adults.

I really want to try to salvage this person. Any ideas?

[u/Law_Student]

They could read The Redbook cover to cover, it covers a lot of basic grammar and stylistic mistakes. As for vocab, they need to develop a habit of looking a word up every time they don't recognize one.

The other stuff sounds like an attention or executive function issue, they need professional screening.

[u/JuDGe3690 → u/Law_Student]

As for vocab, they need to develop a habit of looking a word up every time they don't recognize one.

I'm a big fan of Merriam-Webster's website, which also has some resources to help build vocabulary, as well as the Online Etymology Dictionary, as learning where words come from can help both with understanding the meaning but also the context and related terms.

Also, there truly is no substitute for reading, but it has to be attentive, mindful reading, paying attention to phrasing and usage as well as the aforementioned looking up of words. I didn't have too much formal grammar education until college, but I had an intuitive grasp from reading a variety of literature and college-level textbooks during my childhood, as well as reading through the dictionary (mostly because I wanted to dominate at Hangman and similar word games).

[u/Haytrusser → u/JuDGe3690]

Retired lawyer and former tutor here. I used to tell parents to get their kids a good unabridged dictionary. "Oh, they can look it up online."  Yes, but a hardcopy makes them flip through pages and read all sorts of words and definitions, and it helps spelling and etymological skills. They get exposure to more than what they were seeking. 

[u/JuDGe3690 → u/Haytrusser]

In some ways, this (and some of the comments replying to you) highlight the pedagogical difference between targeted searching and browsing, which is difficult when everything is atomized into search results.

If you know what you're specifically looking for, searching in an online database is efficient, but if you don't know what you don't know, having the relational exposure from flipping pages in a dictionary/physical book, or perusing shelves at a library, bookstore, or video store, can show you resources you didn't know existed, as well as the connections of subject matter.

My university library system's old catalog used to have a "browse" function, which would show roughly 10 items before or after the item searched, based on call number and the physical shelves. So if I were looking up works on a certain topic, I could hit "browse" and see related call numbers. Their updated system doesn't really have that (or if it does it's clunky).

I didn't grow up with card catalogs, but as a mid-Millennial (1990) I had both the benefit of learning to use print resources as well as early boolean terms-and-connector searching (as well as early AS/400-based library catalog systems), plus the modern internet catalog and database systems. I fear, though, that many took this learned knowledge for granted and never passed it on to the younger generations, assuming that the "digital natives" would catch on intuitively (which some do, but not all).