Sensitive Lawyers? You Must Be Kidding

A new type of lawyer is emerging: One that uses the right side of the brain as well as the left. Lawyers discover that creativity, empathy and emotional intelligence are they key factors to success both inside and outside of the court room.

(PRWEB) August 16, 2005 -- Its a rare day when the ABA Journal, the largest legal trade publication in America, runs a cover story (July Issue 2005) touting how some lawyers are becoming more empathetic, creative and caring in their work for clients. Its a new strategic approach" to client counseling that encourages lawyers to fully understand the totality of their clients needs and circumstances - one that requires emotional intelligence, sensitivity, optimism and a big-picture perspective. This is soft stuff from a traditionally skeptical and tough-minded profession.

Lawyers have prided themselves on being intense left-brain thinkers - not for being sensitive, creative or opportunity driven. For most of them, this means the glass must always appear half empty, there is no such thing as upside opportunity and danger is believed to lurk everywhere. Lately, however, this mind-set is being viewed as both unnecessary and counter-productive. This is especially the case when it comes to building strong and trusting relationships with clients as well as legal colleagues. Its also viewed as being generally bad for business.

According to Dan Pink, best-selling author, journalist and presidential speechwriter, the future belongs to a very different kind of lawyer with a very different kind of mind-set. Pink, a graduate of Yale Law, says that the era of left-brain" dominance found in lawyers and many other knowledge workers is giving way to a new world in which right-brain" qualities such as inventiveness, empathy, creativity and emotional intelligence are the qualities that will be most in demand from professional service providers like lawyers.

The sensitivity shift" among lawyers is not going unnoticed by the business pundits either. Some see a broad-reaching paradigm shift taking place within the entire professional services work force. Author and business guru Tom Peters agrees, observing that professional service firms are also in the dream business" and their added value comes from making the dreams of their clients come true. Even for lawyers, its about innovation and transformation - making the experience of being a client both meaningful and wherever possible inspiring.

Tom Peters calls Pinks book A Whole New Mind a miracle" and Alan Webber, founding editor of FAST COMPANY, calls Pinks work brilliant." While its hard to imagine lawyers as sensitive and caring, its turning out that both the lawyer and clients are benefiting from this new arrangement. There is no question this shift in 'feeling as well as 'thinking is also good business," says attorney and marketing consultant Henry Dahut. Emotional traits like empathy, creativity and sensitivity are slowly making their way into the skill development curriculum at some very big and prominent law firms. These firms are spending millions of dollars cultivating this mind-set among their associates and partners. Its no business fad - its more an organic process Dahut says, Law firms are very slow adapters to new ways. This new shift in thinking," he argues, is the real thing, and its transforming the way law is being practiced."

Dahut, like others, believes its part of a new paradigm shift affecting all types of knowledge workers. He has written an entire book on the subject. In his Marketing the Legal Mind (LMG Press, 2004), Dahut not only uses modern brain science and organizational psychology to explain how the business of law is taking a new and more enterprising shape, but he also argues, The rules of marketing have changed for law firms...everything a firm does or communicates impacts the clients experience of the firm." According to Dahut, its not what lawyers think theyre offering that counts, but rather what the clients are experiencing that matters most.

The critics and experts on the practice of law like what they are hearing. Timothy Corcoran, VP of strategic planning at Martindale-Hubbell, one of the worlds largest legal publishers, calls Henrys book a compelling and inspiring road map to growing and managing law firms. Perry Viscounty, a managing partner at Latham and Watkins LLP, a sixteen-hundred-lawyer global powerhouse, says Dahuts book is a must-read for every lawyer - not just for partners. The book is also getting attention from Dan Pink, who calls Dahuts work both compelling and inspiring and one that clearly demonstrates the expanding role of legal professionals.

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