Monday, March 10, 2008
Explaining Ourselves
I was discussing lawyers with a layperson the other day, an intelligent, well-educated, sophisticated person who is expert in her own profession, and who happens to need some assistance with what lawyers likely would regard as an engagement that is interesting but not especially out of the ordinary. I was surprised that the task of retaining a lawyer, however, seemed to her to be extraordinarily difficult, a prospect to be dreaded. Of course, that is the nature of many legal matters, that the need to bring in a professional is caused by a problem quite unfamiliar to the would-be client. It is not the lawyer but the issue itself that generates anxiety.
Nonetheless, it would not be unfair to say that she was intimidated by lawyers. I suspect her apprehension is shared by others who need legal services. It shows that we have much more work to do in training advocates and counselors. The most effective among us are those who have the trust of their clients, who are able to communicate effectively with, for, and about people whose causes they have taken up. Our responsibility is not only to do the work well, but to explain it in a comprehensible manner. Hence the establishment of rapport must be a preliminary task in taking up representation.
