Five Things That Can Make You a Better Lawyer

Raising your game as an attorney may feel daunting at times, especially if you are eager to secure a new client or trying to get more traction with an existing client. An impressive bio on your firm’s website, a detailed pitch deck, or great experience in your practice area can certainly help, but setting yourself apart from others in the legal industry takes more than that. If you want clients and potential clients to really value you as a lawyer then consider a few additional steps.

Bring practical solutions to tough problems

Plenty of lawyers tout their experience, creativity, and problem-solving capabilities, but what does that really mean when you are faced with an actual issue for a client that looks overwhelmingly complicated?  The more you can offer your client a practical path forward, the more confidence they will have in you. 

For instance, a client may want a detailed multi-jurisdiction strategy for addressing data privacy protections but needs initially a short email with your overall guidance. Or your developing markets team has to sign a contract by close of the business day, but the proposed agreement is lengthy and contains a number of provisions that the team acknowledges are contrary to your company’s standard contractual terms.

Start by thinking about what your client’s most critical need is, and consider how you can meet it. Perhaps you can outline the priorities you would recommend in the markets of greatest risks before tackling data privacy worldwide. And with regard to the contract, rather than marking it up in red ink with all the changes that need to be made to conform to the contractual norms and sending it back, talk to the team and assess which are the most important terms that need to be amended and focus on addressing those. Work to find an approach to your client’s problems that helps them in a useful way.

Understand your clients’ business and legal needs

Be your client’s business partner in addition to being their lawyer. Whether they are in-house or outside counsel, attorneys too often look at issues through a narrow legal lens, without considering what business considerations may apply. Paying attention to your client’s industry demands, financial capability, and management constraints helps you learn whether certain aspects of your legal advice might be useful or instead fall flat. And assisting your clients in navigating the business impact of legal recommendations will ultimately help those clients to see you as a more business-savvy lawyer who is a resource for the business as much as a legal advisor. 

For example, when asked for your recommendation on whether to settle a complex commercial litigation matter or go to trial, you’ll want to be aware of the client’s risk tolerance, willingness to bear the financial burden, and concerns about getting approval from senior management for either option. If trial on the litigation matter seems the client’s preferred route, preparing a realistic budget showing the cost of the work, and explaining the time that will be required from company employees who may be witnesses, need to provide IT support, or otherwise assist the trial team could be a good strategy to help manage business concerns. Understanding and recognizing business issues with your clients sets you up for a good working relationship where you are seen as valuing the business as well as the legal needs. 

Be willing to admit what you don’t know and willing to learn what you need to know

If you aren’t an expert in an area of law, or are unsure of the answer to a question that a client is asking you, tell your client that. No lawyer (or person!) knows everything, and admitting your limitations, in a professional and appropriate way, is a way to let your client know that you are honest with them and will not put them in a situation where your advice is not well-founded. The desire to be helpful to clients on everything should not get in the way of actually helping them on specific things. 

But also, be open to learning and educating yourself about what you don’t know, and offering that to your clients. For example, if you are unsure whether the legal steps you may recommend would completely disrupt the manufacturing process at a company plant, think about asking to speak to company personnel who can help you understand the impact on the plant. In addition, if you find that clients are increasingly asking you about new and changing aspects of law, make it a point to learn about those areas for which it increasingly appears expected that you are familiar with in your practice. 

Be responsive

The barrage of emails, phone calls, texts and internet chat communications that we receive in professional life is often daunting. But learning to triage issues as they come in is part of managing your workload, and clients and colleagues can easily grow tired of working with someone who is too busy to communicate with them. 

If you truly are too busy to immediately attend to a message that requests, directly or indirectly, a reply in the near term, at least advise the sender in a timely manner that you are aware of the communication. Let them know that you will review as soon as you can or give a time frame in which you will respond, so it’s clear that you are paying attention. A brief reply is preferable to leaving your clients and colleagues feeling like they have been ghosted when they really need your assistance. Treating them with the courtesy of a reply, and alerting them when you can’t immediately do so but noting when you will, shows your respect for them and their time. 

Don’t be a jerk

This sounds like easy advice, right? Be a nice person to work with. Treat everyone with respect. Keep your ego in check. And yet, there are a lot of lawyers who still behave badly, including when dealing with a tough case, working long hours, or otherwise being stressed.

Lawyers can forget that they aren’t superior people just because they have a law degree. They can assume that it’s okay to be arrogant, dismissive, harassing or abusive to others. And they can make the mistake of thinking that their colleagues and clients only care about whether they provide good legal advice. But clients and colleagues are also truly interested in how you work, and they notice people who mistreat or malign others. Your attitude and your treatment of other people are what can build your good reputation or impede it more directly than almost anything else. And the result of striving consciously not to be the person no one wants to work with is worth it – to be both a better lawyer and a better person.