Overview

Bringing together cutting-edge research at the intersection of language, communication and legal practice, this volume challenges established processes and explores key questions arising from real cases, practices, or sites of contention, where tackling linguistic issues can help enhance access to justice. Directly addressing areas of genuine professional and institutional concern, the collection provides novel and groundbreaking insights into the multiple communication-related challenges the justice system and legal professionals have to navigate on a daily basis. The volume engages with a wide range of legal areas, including criminal law, family law, civil law, immigration, international law, and legal education. It has an international scope, with relevance across both adversarial and inquisitorial legal systems, international legal institutions, and multilingual jurisdictions. Collectively, the chapters highlight the immense benefits and opportunities which arise when legal and applied linguistic scholarship are harnessed together, especially for scrutinising the accountability, transparency and accessibility of the justice system.

Full Product Details

Author:   Tatiana Grieshofer (Birmingham City University) ,  Kate Haworth (Aston University)
Publisher:   Cambridge University Press
Imprint:   Cambridge University Press
Weight:   0.500kg
ISBN:  

9781009540957

ISBN 10:   1009540955
Pages:   248
Publication Date:   05 March 2026
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   Not yet available, will be POD  
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Table of Contents

List of figures; List of tables; Notes on contributors; 1. Introduction: the role of language in law and justice Tatiana Grieshofer and Kate Haworth; Part I. Communication and Legal Process: 2. The principle of orality in county courts Tatiana Grieshofer; 3. Linguistic rituals in Faretta waivers Mel Greenlee; 4. Navigating the challenges of legal practice in lawful surveillance of multilingual communication Nadja Capus, Cornelia Griebel and Franziska Hohl Zürcher; 5. Process, procedure and professional practice in the creation of police interview evidence Kate Haworth; 6. Evidence and assessing verbatim transcription quality of Black English and standard American English L. Alexander Walker III; 7. Judicial exceptionalism and the potential for misinterpretation Michele Ruyters, Miranda Lai and Gregory Stratton; 8. Interpreting for jurors and defendants' right to a fair trial Eva N. S. Ng; Part II. Communication and Legal Profession: 9. 'Being sure': judicial practices in directing juries on the criminal standard of proof Chris Heffer and Malcolm Coulthard; 10. Signposting topics in the cross-examination of vulnerable witnesses David Wright, John Jackson, Jonathan Doak, Candida Saunders and Debbie Cooper; 11. The ambivalence of judicial interventions at the international criminal court Fabio Ferraz de Almeida and Elena Barrett; 12. Discourse and contingency in international criminal justice Sigurd D'hondt; 13. The politics of official language rights in the multilingual courtroom Janny H. C. Leung; 14. The co-construction of witness statements in a refugee family reunion case Judith Reynolds; 15. Intercultural communication in migration law education Laura Smith-Khan.

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Author Information

Tatiana Grieshofer is Professor in Language and Law with an interdisciplinary research profile across socio-legal studies, administrative law and applied linguistics. Drawing on mixed methods approaches, her work explores access to justice pathways across civil and family proceedings. Kate Haworth is a visiting senior research fellow at the Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics, of which she is a founding member. Prior to her academic career she was a practising barrister. She has been an active researcher in the field of investigative interviewing for over twenty years.

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