We sat down with Dena Falken, Esq., retired attorney, legal translator, and founder of Legal-Ease International. Ms. Falken has been a legal professional for over 35 years and has used her extensive experience to give back to the community as a volunteer, mentor, and trainer.
As the founder and key principle of Legal-Ease International, Ms. Falken has trained and advised legal professionals worldwide in the art of communicating in legal English. Through live and online seminars, Legal-Ease International has helped countless professionals to enhance their ability to communicate in “legalese,” providing them with critical skills needed to hone their advocacy and negotiation skills, write powerful court documents, and deliver brilliant presentations.
Dena, thank you so much for joining us today. I was looking over your profile and can honestly say I was blown away by your influence on legal professionals worldwide. How did you amass such a following?
My pleasure, and thank you for having me. It always catches me off guard when anyone asks me this, as it reminds me of the struggle it took to start a company from the ground up. Had you asked me in the early 90s whether I would have such a following, I would probably laugh you out of the room!
But in all seriousness, it was indeed a humbling process. I started Legal-Ease International with one goal: to help legal professionals talk the legal talk. As I continued to conduct seminars in many different countries, I was brought to tears by how much the seminars meant to students. Studying the law is one thing; in many ways, it is concrete. However, communicating in “legal talk” is more like an art that takes time and skill to acquire. I noticed many legal professionals outside the US struggling with Legal English, so I made it a personal goal to expand Legal-Ease International into as many countries as possible. I’m proud to say that today we are in over 50 countries worldwide and have helped thousands of legal professionals in mastering this art.
Wow, well, that certainly explains it! It seems you captured your students’ hearts and minds with your process. You are in over 50 countries; how many languages do you speak, and how did you obtain technical proficiency in each?
I would hope so! I currently speak English, Italian, Spanish, Greek, and of course, “legalese!” When you spend considerable time in different countries, engaging with the people and culture, it is much easier to become proficient in the native tongue. Fortunately, many legal professionals worldwide have a solid grasp of the English language, so I don’t need to learn a new one every time we enter a new country.
Fascinating, and I can certainly agree that immersion in a culture is the best way to pick up a new language. My next question focuses more on the lawyers as a whole. With the media, Hollywood, and even podcasts, we are led to believe there are two types of lawyers, good and bad, depending on the current paradigm. On the one hand, we have lawyers that generally cause harm in terms of malicious prosecution or defending known criminals, while on the other, we have lawyers who seek to do good and get justice for their clients. What are your thoughts on this?
Well, that is certainly a loaded question! I believe most people enter the legal field with the intention of doing good. Unfortunately, the legal system in each respective country is far from perfect. Take the US, for example; we have prosecutors that focus solely on building a name for themselves and often see “justice” as an ancillary goal. This is largely due to how performance is measured. For prosecutors, it’s less about finding justice and more about getting a conviction no matter what. We see it in the news constantly, where a poor defendant was locked away for a crime they didn’t commit, only to be set free decades later after it was discovered that the prosecution ignored key evidence that would have cast considerable doubt regarding the defendant’s guilt.
For me, it always seemed like a no-brainer: I entered this profession to improve the world. Part of the reason I chose my current path was to create a net positive good in the world through legal education rather than harm an innocent bystander to boost my career. On a long enough timeline, not all lawyers are created equally.
I can certainly admire that, and it seems you are proof that you can advance in this field by focussing on improving the world. I mean, think about it, at this point, you can pretty much pick up the phone and call the highest level government or judiciary official in most allied countries. What does that feel like?
Well, when you put it that way, it does sound nice! But yea, when you spend considerable time in a country helping its legal professionals grow, you build a bit of a reputation amongst the higher-ups. I wouldn’t say I take advantage of this often, though it is a nice feeling knowing you have a good standing relationship with officials in many different countries. It is more of a statement of my work in those countries. In fact, many of those officials you speak of happen to be my former students!
It’s ok to own it, Dena! Is it ever overwhelming to be well-known in the global community, particularly regarding legal professionals?
I’ll try! You know that is an interesting question. For the most part, it’s heartwarming because I know I have had some level of influence on these individuals, though there is always a darker side that comes with fame, regardless of how small.
You know, I never started Legal-Ease International to be famous; it just kind of happened that way. In hindsight, it does make sense, though. It’s almost like a probability problem. If you know ten people, there is a good chance all of them will like you. If you know thousands, there is a good chance a small number won’t like you for one reason or another. Unfortunately, it’s always this tiny minority that turns fame into a burden.
I can certainly see that being a possibility. I guess it’s like that old saying, “no good deed goes unpunished.” We have a few members of our staff here that are currently applying to law school, so they wanted me to ask you this: does law school matter for future success as a lawyer? That is, does going to a high-tier vs. low-tier law school impact opportunities?
Well, they can certainly chat with me after! Honestly, it’s not as cut and dry as one would like to believe. Many seasoned lawyers would say things like, “it’s not the school you went to but what you do with the degree.” While there is some truth to this, I think it is misleading, especially when paired with the current student loan crisis we are facing in the US.
Students at low-tier law schools face several problems, but the biggest one is that they have difficulty securing employment. So now you have a law degree, one that you probably took a sizable loan out to get, and very narrow employment prospects. In my experience, I’ve noticed that this adversely shapes the career path of new students. For one, you probably take whatever opportunity comes your way, taking a steep hit on salary and benefits. Second, it changes how you practice the law, often getting into the good/bad lawyer discussion we spoke of earlier. When prospects are slim, you tend to do extreme things to climb up the ladder. I have seen it firsthand with new lawyers, which is always a painful experience. Of course, this doesn’t mean that all lawyers who went to such a school end up this way, but the odds are considerably stacked against you. My advice would be to try your hardest to get into a first or second-tier school; easier said than done, I know, but doing so would help you immensely in the future.
Well, I can already see them lining up to speak with you! Dena, thank you so much for your time today; we will post info on Legal-Ease International at the end of this interview for readers to learn more.
The pleasure is all mine. Thank you for having me!
You can learn more about Dena Falken, Esq. via her LinkedIn or by visiting legalenglish.com.
