HOW TO BE A SUCCESSFUL LAWYER
RESEARCH
Exceptional Representation
PART 1: Why do I need to research this topic?
What Makes a Good Lawyer?
“It is a pleasant world we live in, sir, a very pleasant world. There are bad people in it, Mr. Richard, but if there were no bad people, there would be no good lawyers.”
– Charles Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop
While lawyers are often given a bad reputation and are the butt of many jokes trying to make them seem like the “bad guy”, the truth is that having good lawyers around is extremely important for society and without their legal expertise nearly nothing would be able to get done.
I have been interested in law ever since I was a child and my mother went through an extremely painful and bitter divorce. Ever since then I have been interested in helping people who are in situations
similar to hers.While at my mentorship I focused on what different qualities/actions make up a good lawyer. This may seem like a very simple question but with so many different kinds of lawyers it is layered in complexity.
Part 2: What do I know?
Lawyers are those who act as advocates and use their knowledge of law in order to help their clients get what they want. They do a variety of things such as creating legal documents, managing and advising clients. Tasks may vary depending on what type of law you plan to specialize in. This was all I knew about my essential question before I started my research because the majority of my essential question is based off of the experiences I've had with my mentor as well as other attorneys. Before going further into my research I assumed that the majority of what made a lawyer successful was their legal knowledge.
Part 3: Research
The first piece of information I looked for when beginning my research was what qualities distinguish great attorneys from average ones. After reading may articles I have narrowed down the list to what I consider to be the most important.
QUALITIES OF A SUCCESSFUL LAWYER
Communication Skills: This is possibly the most important trait since a large part of this career depends on your communication with others. It is key that as a lawyer you have efficient communication skills because they are needed to argue convincingly in the courtroom as well as writing clearly and persuasively in any legal documents you may create. Communication doesn't just apply to speaking it applies to listening as well. You will need to be able to follow and analyze what clients and other tell you quickly and efficiently. In a poll of over 24,000 people 76% believed that qualities like communication were significantly more important than an attorneys legal expertise.
Judgement: As an attorney drawing logical conclusions from small pieces of information is crucial. Lawyers must often exercise their judgment when deciding the best course of action to pursue. Judgement is also useful when preparing your arguments for court, you must be able to find any potential weaknesses in your arguments as well as spot any weaknesses in opposing arguments. Decisiveness is a big part of the job as you will be expected to make important decisions in a timely manner.
Analytical Skills: A lawyer you will have to receive and understand large amounts of information then make it into something that you can manage and comprehend. There will be times when there is more than one way of resolving a situation and you must be able to choose which would be best.
Creativity: Creativity is also key in problem solving because when preparing your legal arguments the best solution to your problem isn’t always the most obvious because of this there will be times when you have to take your time and “think outside the box”.
People Skills: Lawyers work with people and on the behalf of people so they must be personable, persuasive and able to read others. Having the ability to read others allows them to gauge jurors reactions as well as the honesty of any witnesses. that may be on the stand.
Emotion & Law
If you decide to become an attorney you must have extreme emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is the ability to monitor your own and other people’s emotions, to distinguish between different emotions and label them appropriately, and to use this information to guide your thinking and behavior.Lawyers are trained to approach situations by putting the focus on thinking, using their reasoning ability to solve problems. My mentor told me that he was actually trained in law school to keep emotions out of the equation because the law is not about how we feel. Separating emotions from the process, not to cloud our judgment, is a good thing to do in the practice of law.
During my interview with Wayne (my mentor) I asked him how lawyers keep their emotions/personal beliefs out of the courtroom and he said that "It’ s a hard thing to do and something that you will never no matter who you are be able to do completely. You have to understand that the rule of law applies equally to everyone no matter the situation. If it didn’t then our government and society wouldn’t be free.You need to understand that the law works in a way that may not always seem to be common or fair."
HOW TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A GREAT AND GOOD LAWYER
There are many factors that can help distinguish the good lawyers from the bad ones. When looking for attorneys there are 3 questions you need to ask yourself:
Is the attorney really listening to my needs?- For example, you might need a shareholder agreement for a new investor. The good lawyer would just simply go and complete that task for you. While this is a good thing that he is doing what you asked a great lawyer hear what you asked , he would then ask you several series of questions relating to your particular agreement to make sure that you are covered and protected in all aspects of the deal being made. The great lawyer is the one that is going above and beyond what you expect and makes sure that you are fully protected legally.
Do they easily explain the law to you? I personally think that if any business professional is willing to sit down and take the time to explain complicated things to you that they care about you and want to make sure you understand what is going on. If you were ever in a situation where you were dealing with a lot of things and terms that you didn't understand the good lawyer would typically only explain a little bit of the information and then leave you to fend for yourself. The great lawyer would again take his/her time to explain everything to you in simple terms to make sure that you fully understand and know about everything that is going on with your case. Having these legal things explained to you could possibly help you in the future if you ever find yourself in a similar situation.
How well educated are they in their specific area of law? The majority of the time having more knowledge about a specific part of the law will lead to better results. One mistake that my people have is mistaking knowledge with experience. Someone can have a lot of experience doing something but not be very knowledgeable in it. A great lawyer is someone that has a lot of knowledge about exactly what they are doing so that they are able to provide the best help possible.If you were facing a legal problem you would much prefer someone who is extremely knowledgeable in that area of law as opposed to someone who is only moderately knowledgeable.
Conclusion
After completing my research I learned that a lawyer who is highly effective is one who whose clients are satisfied not because the representative was an obedient and completed all the tasks they were required to do but because the lawyer was creative, intelligent and truly cared and helped the client . In some cases they could have possibly changed the client’s life, especially in regard to criminal cases.
My research has confirmed the importance of all of the traits I mentioned earlier .In fact what surprised me the most was that potential clients put the importance of communication and people over an attorney's legal skills.
While working at my mentorship I was also taught the importance of organization, proper filing, prioritizing, keeping supplies in stock, billing and how to communicate with clerks of the court as well as proper interaction with clients that are going through an emotional ordeal. I am thankful for the amazing opportunity offered to me by this program and look forward to being able to offer the same learning experience in the future as a lawyer myself.
Works Cited
Vaughan, Steven. "Corporate lawyers and corporate clients." Legal Ethics July 2016: 1+. Academic Search Complete. Web. 6 Nov. 2016
TOWNSLEY, LESLEY. "Thinking Like A Lawyer Ethically: Narrative Intelligence And Emotion." Legal Education Review 24.1/2 (2014): 69-93. Legal Collection. Web. 21 Jan. 2017.
Kaiser, Randall. "Emotionally Attentive Lawyer." Law Journal. N.p., 04 Apr. 2015. Web. 20 Feb. 2017.
"Top 10 Qualities of a Great Lawyer - LawSchools.com - Directory of Law Schools and Law Related Degrees." LawSchools.com. N.p., 17 Jan. 2015. Web. 26 Apr. 2017.
Bandes, Susan A. "What Roles Do Emotions Play in the Law?" Emotion Researcher. N.p., 03 Oct. 2016. Web. 26 Apr. 2017.