Communicating with Indigenous Clients

This article by Josh Creamer outlines the key elements in developing and maintaining a good relationship with indigenous clients and provides helpful advice on achieving a greater level of communication and understanding. 

Indigenous people have generally experienced the greatest difficulties within the criminal law jurisdiction. Because of this much of the material written on communicating with indigenous clients is found in that context. As a result, written material has not adequately kept up with the demands of practice and the ever-increasing number of indigenous clients who now seek to access legal services in a wide range of areas.

Indigenous clients who seek the services of a lawyer in areas of law other than criminal law will have vastly different requirements than those of the criminal law client. The outcomes the client is seeking are obviously different, as are the client’s expectations and demands. Critically, the socio-economic factors that are common to indigenous clients in the criminal law context may not be an issue at all.

By now we would all be familiar with the following issues that may arise when dealing with indigenous clients; a unique verbal communication, certain issues regarding direct questioning, gratuitous concurrence, specific information, naming of deceased persons, avoidance of eye contact, silence and gestures. Considerable research and discussion on these themes has led to the implementation of measures such as those identified in the Supreme Court of Queensland Equal Treatment Benchbook1. These measures will assist a practitioner in dealing with the issues as they arise. Whilst these practises have had a significant impact on the way in which you might deal with an indigenous client in the criminal law context, they may not always adequately assist a practitioner when dealing with indigenous clients in other areas of law.

As you know, no two clients are the same and therefore the needs of each indigenous client will vary greatly just as they would with any other client. However, I will attempt to give some useful advice generally about communicating with indigenous clients that is relevant not just to the criminal law context but to many other areas of law as well.  The information may be applied not only to assist you when dealing with your own client, but may also be applied when dealing with other indigenous parties.

It is important to remember that the traditional and cultural morés of indigenous people still have a strong influence on the way in which indigenous clients will act and communicate today. Central to the lawyer and indigenous client relationship, is trust. Indigenous clients will want to trust you, but not necessarily in the same way that a non indigenous client will want to trust you to perform your obligations and to act in their best interests. The indigenous clients will want to trust you as a person. To build that trust there are a number of elements that need to be developed. They are through communication and what I will call “connection”.

Almost immediately indigenous clients will want to form a connection with you. They will want to know where it is that you fit within their world in reference to people, place and time. They may wish to know something about your background, whether you have things in common and whether you have worked with indigenous people before, although they may find such things difficult to ask. Volunteering such information assists the client in developing a sense of trust in you as their lawyer. Building this initial connection allows an indigenous person to fit you within their kinship system. A system which defines how an indigenous person will interact with another person, whether it is a family member, a friend, an associate or someone they have just met. In terms of place your client might want to know what places are significant to you in your life and why. The client is searching for a connection and the sooner that connection is made the sooner the relationship based on trust will be established. This may require a little more time to be taken at the commencement of the initial meeting to allow that connection to be made.

The next element is communication, it is important to remember that indigenous culture is still an oral culture. While much has been written by anthropologists, historians and researchers about indigenous culture, many of those who have documented it are non indigenous. This may give the perception that indigenous culture is becoming a culture in which the written word holds most importance. However, it is still very common for indigenous people to pass down information orally.  This may have the affect of your indigenous client preferring to speak with you directly to discuss the progress of their matter. This in no way means that you should stop sending correspondence regarding their matter, correspondence will always be an essential part of dealing with any client.  Instead, it may also mean that indigenous clients will want to speak to you over the phone or face to face if possible.  It is not because the client will want to cause you any further burden in dealing with their matter. It is because that is still the way that many indigenous people prefer to communicate.  Your relationship with an indigenous person will dictate how that client chooses to communicate with you.

Initially an indigenous person may hold the belief that they must speak to you in a style of language that is not their own, but a style that the believe should be used when speaking to a lawyer. It is important that an indigenous person knows that they are able to speak using the same style of language that they would ordinarily use. This can be achieved by ensuring that you communicate at the same level as your indigenous client adopting the same of similar style of language where appropriate. Effective and continual communication will be key to maintaining a strong lawyer client relationship.

As we see a greater increase of the number of indigenous clients in areas other than criminal law it is important that practitioners understand the needs of their client and the reasons behind those needs. The relationship built on trust is essential when dealing with most if not all clients. However, there may be certain practises that you can adopt which will assist you in dealing with an indigenous client. The elements of connection and communication that I have touched on above are key to developing and maintaining a good relationship with your indigenous clients.

By Josh Creamer