An Unlikely Group Makes for the Perfect Group

When this group was assembled we were a little uncertain as to how we would all present on one topic that would relate to each of our specific fields of study. We were a group of future doctors, lawyers, and businessmen. As you can tell, none of these fields come close to sharing the same communication issues, but we found a way to decide on one specific field to direct our focus, which took some time. We were given some time in class to decide what issue we would focus on. After having many ideas thrown on the table, we came to a unanimous decision that we would direct our attention to the field of law. Now that we picked what field we wanted to focus on, we proceeded to narrow down the field by picking the main topic that we present on. We chose to focus on how lawyers communicate with their clients in criminal law. Since, Branden knew the most on the topic, he volunteered to write our required blog post. Having our topic, the group work was able to begin.

Individually, we each had to interview an attorney, but more specifically, an attorney that works in criminal justice. The attorneys we interviewed were all different and they all had different backgrounds, which allowed us to get different stories, as well as different perspectives. All of us asked our attorneys the same questions, but we received many different answers. Some of the questions we decided to ask was, “Does emotion or morals ever get in the way of your work?” and “What barriers do you often face when talking to your clients?” We received a wide range of answers. Some said, “Yes, morals do get in the way and it is often hard to keep your emotions out of this line of work. Especially with some of the stuff we see.” Others said, “ It is hard to keep emotions out of the case, but you have to if you want a fair and unbiased case.” Another thing we noticed in our interviews is that there are common barriers that lawyers face when communicating with their clients. Some of those are language barriers, and clients not feeling comfortable telling what really happened because they are scared that it will affect the case negatively and that their lawyer will not want to represent them.

When we met as a group we all presented the information we received in our interviews, in order to see how we would present our issues. We all were eagerly willing to present our data because we knew that this would make for a better grade and a better presentation for our group’s issue. Chris volunteered to create the PowerPoint for us with each of our slides on there, Stacy and Amanda volunteered to create our class interactive activity, and I, James Hunter, volunteered to write our group blog post. Our group faced no real setbacks because we had everyone volunteer and work hard without any complaints that would hinder us from our work.

Overall, our group worked well together. It was interesting to see what we could come to agree on because we all had different fields of study, but we managed to agree on everything. It was a very rewarding experience.