Module 7

Writing questions and reading between the lines: emails, forms, statements and what is not said

Much of the listening and questioning in a lawyer’s week happens in writing: the email that tells you about a problem, the intake form a client fills in, the list of questions you send to a witness who cannot meet, the statement you draft for someone to sign, the long thread that you must read to find out what really happened. The same principles apply as in conversation, but writing removes the voice, the pause and the chance to check at once. A badly worded written question gets a short, wrong or defensive answer, with no way to follow up in the moment. A written account, once signed, can be very hard to retract. And a lawyer reading an email has to listen for what is not said, with only the words to go on. This final module teaches how to ask clearly in writing, how to design forms and follow-up that check understanding, how to draft a statement in the witness’s own words and not yours, how to read written messages with care, how to use (and not trust) AI summaries and transcripts, and how to build a personal habit of listening. It also asks you to put your questions through the Question Type Analyzer once more. All the people are invented.

General education on listening and interviewing, using invented people, firms and events. It states psychological research in broad terms and is not a substitute for specialist training, and it is not legal advice. Rules on interviewing, contact with witnesses and represented persons, recording and the interviewing of suspects and vulnerable people differ between countries and change: check the rules that apply to you and take advice.