Tatiana Grieshofer – författare

Focusing on adversarial legal settings, this Element explores discursive practices in court proceedings which often involve unrepresented parties - private family proceedings and small claims cases. Such proceedings present the main caseload of county and family courts but pose immense challenges when it comes to legal-lay communication. Drawing on court observations, alongside textual and interview data, the Element pursues three aims: (1) developing the methodological and theoretical framework for exploring discursive practices in legal settings; (2) establishing the link between legal-lay discourse and procedural justice; (3) presenting and contextualising linguistic phenomena as an inherent part of court research and practice. The Element illustrates how linguistic input can contribute to procedural changes and court reforms across different adversarial and non-adversarial legal settings. The exploration of discursive practices embedded in court processes and procedures consolidates and advances the existing court research conducted within the fields of socio-legal studies and forensic and legal linguistics. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Focusing on adversarial legal settings, this Element explores discursive practices in court proceedings which often involve unrepresented parties - private family proceedings and small claims cases. Such proceedings present the main caseload of county and family courts but pose immense challenges when it comes to legal-lay communication. Drawing on court observations, alongside textual and interview data, the Element pursues three aims: (1) developing the methodological and theoretical framework for exploring discursive practices in legal settings; (2) establishing the link between legal-lay discourse and procedural justice; (3) presenting and contextualising linguistic phenomena as an inherent part of court research and practice. The Element illustrates how linguistic input can contribute to procedural changes and court reforms across different adversarial and non-adversarial legal settings. The exploration of discursive practices embedded in court processes and procedures consolidates and advances the existing court research conducted within the fields of socio-legal studies and forensic and legal linguistics. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Bringing together cutting-edge research at the intersection of language, communication and legal practice, this volume challenges established processes and explores key questions arising from real cases, practices, or sites of contention, where tackling linguistic issues can help enhance access to justice. Directly addressing areas of genuine professional and institutional concern, the collection provides novel and groundbreaking insights into the multiple communication-related challenges the justice system and legal professionals have to navigate on a daily basis. The volume engages with a wide range of legal areas, including criminal law, family law, civil law, immigration, international law, and legal education. It has an international scope, with relevance across both adversarial and inquisitorial legal systems, international legal institutions, and multilingual jurisdictions. Collectively, the chapters highlight the immense benefits and opportunities which arise when legal and applied linguistic scholarship are harnessed together, especially for scrutinising the accountability, transparency and accessibility of the justice system.