The importance of cultural competence

By Freya Fredriksson.

Reading time: two minutes

What is cultural competence?

The University of Sydney defines cultural competence as the ‘ability to participate ethically and effectively in personal and professional intercultural settings’. In short, it means being able to understand and respect that everyone is different and being friendly towards each other. An important skill that forms the basis of cultural competence is being able to communicate one’s respect and interest in other people’s cultures.

Why is cultural competence important in the legal profession?

If we are to create a fair and equal legal system, then we must strive to achieve cultural competency. For example, it is essential for lawyers to be able to work well with their clients and being culturally competent can help them better understand their client’s perspectives, values and needs. This way, a sense of trust can be established in the lawyer-client relationship because if cultural competence is shown, then this demonstrates a level of respect and thus fosters a sense of trust.

Understanding each other’s backgrounds will no doubt facilitate effective communication. This is because cultural misunderstandings can occur and lead to miscommunication. For example, a culturally competent lawyer with a deaf client will have prior knowledge of deaf culture, then they can help minimise the risk of misunderstandings and ensure that the legal process is as smooth as possible for both parties.

Interested in learning more about deaf culture? Read ‘Legal inclusivity for the D/deaf community’.

Therefore, effective communication is essential in lawyering, especially when working with clients from diverse backgrounds. Cultural competency isn’t limited to only lawyer-client relationships – it will also prove beneficial when communicating with professors, colleagues and other connections in the legal landscape.

Society is becoming more globalised and interconnected, so lawyers meet more people from different ethnic, linguistic, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds in which having cultural competence skills will help them communicate and get on well with different communities.

How can we develop cultural competence skills?

Firstly, lawyers must have an interest and curiosity to learn and be willing to develop a better understanding and appreciation of different cultures and backgrounds. This can be achieved by participating in cultural competence workshops or doing online courses.

Secondly, being able to recognise and put aside subconscious bias and prejudice when meeting new people and clients will help lawyers practice better active listening and empathy. Self-awareness is really important as ongoing self-reflection can help people recognise and address their own cultural blind spots (e.g. a teacher who assumes that all students learn in the same way) and so work on improving them.

To conclude

Cultural competence in the legal profession is essential to not only our lawyering but also to promote respect for diversity in society. It puts law students and lawyers in better positions to help clients from different backgrounds which ultimately leads to contributing to a more inclusive and equitable legal profession.