Entering the Client's World: Translating the Industry to Outsiders.

I routinely enter the worlds of my clients.  While there, I encounter processes, names, lingo, titles, abbreviations and codes unique to their industries.  I must know this world if I am to “translate” it to others not familiar with it.  The information is relevant to understanding what happened and why people acted as they did.  The knowledge is especially important when showing that the reason given for termination is trumped up to hide an illegal motive.  

I have an advantage in not being intimately familiar with the industry.  I am like the arbitrator or jury first hearing the case.  I therefore understand the importance of taking industry terms and practices and “translating” those for persons not familiar with the industry.  

I didn’t know how interesting this field of practice would be when I began practicing employment law exclusively in 1993.  I am exposed to the full range of industries as the settings where the drama and unpredictability of human behavior is played out in case after case.  Some guys get all the luck.