Still on Law Skills: To What Extent Is Emotional Involvement Beneficial to a Client’s Representation?

Still on Law Skills: To What Extent Is Emotional Involvement Beneficial to a Client’s Representation?

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How can the line be drawn between empathetic, human legal representation and the necessary professional distance? How far should our emotional involvement go before it begins to affect our professional judgment?

I am becoming increasingly convinced that a good lawyer must, above all, be a well-rounded individual. On the other hand, good training does not always lead to good execution.

Let me explain. From what I have observed and from my (relatively short) professional experience, it is essential that legal ethics remain ever-present. Not only from a professional and regulatory perspective, but, more importantly, from the standpoint of values and personal character.

It seems to me that the greatest challenge is honesty. Honesty when a case has merit and stands a real chance of succeeding, and even more so when the case is lost and beyond recovery. At the very top of the scale lies the situation where the case has merit, but we are not the best person to handle it due to a lack of expertise or availability.

On another level, we have empathy, which inevitably leads to emotional involvement. From the woman whose company is about to enter insolvency proceedings and who, as a result, can no longer pay her employees’ salaries, to the man who, because of a degenerative illness, must ensure he retains the entirety of his salary, which would normally be partially garnished due to an outstanding debt.

On the one hand, becoming involved in a client’s story and personal circumstances can provide greater motivation and a stronger determination to defend their case—something that would not exist in an apathetic, robotic, or sociopathic approach. On the other hand, excessive emotional involvement may cloud our judgment and compromise the ethical principles described above.

So, where does that leave us? How can the line be drawn between empathetic, human legal representation and the necessary professional distance? How far should our emotional involvement go before it begins to affect our professional judgment?

To those in the legal profession, especially academia, I suggest the creation of a postgraduate programme in Law Skills – How to Maintain the Necessary Professional Distance Without Becoming Completely Detached.

To those specialising in emotional intelligence and social skills within the legal profession—to the lawyers’ coaches who have grown in both number and importance in recent years—I ask for your guidance on a question that occasionally keeps me awake at night.

Finally, and in no particular order of importance, I turn to you, artificial intelligence.

Thank you in advance, but this is not a problem that an algorithm can solve. The term is ad vocatus—the one who has been called to stand beside SOMEONE.

To everyone, including civil society, your opinions are welcome, and your criticism is needed.