Annmarie Carvalho and Will Dawson, TCC
AI is here and the work of a lawyer is changing every day.
AI is becoming more widely used for research purposes, and it’s easy to envisage a time when draft witness statements could be produced spontaneously. And how soon will AI be capable of applying legal analysis to an input set of facts, and producing legal advice output? This will be a game changer for lawyers of all disciplines.
Meantime, other processes, such as disclosure and bundling in employment litigation, have become increasingly reliant on software.
Looking forward, is one unexplored consequence of the rise in AI and technology that the job of a lawyer will end up being distilled down to the human elements that can’t be easily outsourced?
We say yes.
At the same time as these technological advances is the rise of the well-being movement. Concerns about the stress that lawyers from all sectors are under are all over the press. Stories of terrible situations, even deaths. SRA judgments against paralegals, trainees and juniors who’ve clearly been massively overworked.
For lawyers, there’s an increasing need to manage one’s own mental health, as well as identify potential issues in others.
If you dig deep amongst all the noise about wellbeing is an increasing realisation that, for the profession to really flourish in the future, it needs to become more psychologically-informed. Firms are starting to recognise that lawyers need to improve their understanding of EQ; and that they need to develop psychological tools
Why? Because many of the above issues have been contributed to by lawyers not having the right tools to understand and interact with others in a way which is effective. Law is a people business and yet the way that lawyers have been trained traditionally has been ‘one-note’. Sessions on advocacy, drafting, persuasion etc. But nothing on the effects of distress on clients (and litigants in person) and their ability to process and filter information, vicarious trauma, and common mental health issues.
So what do we think the psychologically-informed lawyer of the future will look like? Let us show you!
Clients in high emotion
As lawyers, we are taught to hone our left-brain thinking. Developing our skills of rationality, analytical thought processes, and linear thinking. But our clients, colleagues, and litigants in person are in their right brains. These individuals are flooded with feelings. This has various physiological effects, including difficulty filtering information, retaining information, and inability to restrain yourself from being reactive. So when your traditional lawyer tries to use their rationality and powers of analysis to reason with their clients or colleagues, it’s as if they’re talking a different language. It has little impact.
There are ways of working with people who are flooded with feelings that are more effective than the traditional lawyer approach. The use of certain language to soothe their dysregulated nervous systems, using metaphors more commonly instead of resorting to long-winded letters and emails of advice. Creating more collaborative relationships using coaching techniques. These will all be in the toolkit of the lawyer of the future.
How to work with resistance
To misquote Michelle Obama, “when they go hard, we go in harder” is the mantra of many lawyers. When we meet resistance, whether from opposing lawyers or even our own clients or colleagues, we become more directive, more ‘persuasive’, perfecting our intellectual and legal arguments. But it often doesn’t work.
There is a wealth of psychological research to indicate that when you’re met with resistance, rather than trying to lead that person (meaning they just get stubborn and dig their heels in even further), it’s more effective to deploy skills to influence them. Helping lawyers to develop their skills of interviewing, using curiosity, listening, asking open questions about their own motivations results in them becoming far more influential than when they deploy the ‘butting heads’ approach.
What about vulnerability, suicidality and trauma?
Unfortunately, during and since the pandemic, conversations about suicide and vulnerable clients (and colleagues) have become increasingly necessary. Suicidality is a scary subject for lawyers to think about. Traditionally, lawyers end up overstretching themselves with clients who express suicidal thoughts. The lawyer feels overly responsible. They fear they’re getting it wrong, that if they hang up the phone, that client may “do something silly”. Or if someone ‘on the other side’ or a LIP takes their own life, their feelings of guilt can be horrendous.
It’s crucial that lawyers are trained to work with such scenarios in a psychologically informed way; that firms introduce vulnerable clients’ policies so team members know ‘best practice’, how far their responsibilities extend and how to spot mental health issues in clients and colleagues, including addiction, depression and others.
Understanding these and spotting the warning signs in ourselves and others is vital so lawyers can protect themselves and fulfil their duty of care to others.
So let’s revolutionise the way we train our employment lawyers of the future so they can do their jobs more effectively and lower their risk of burnout. Let’s teach them these skills we used to call ‘soft’ (but which are actually hard!) so they finally have the right tools in their toolkit.
Bio
TCC is an agency of former lawyers who are now therapists, coaches and trainers for lawyers. Our motto is “because we’ve walked in your shoes” and we’re passionate about supporting lawyers to become more psychologically-informed. We provide training on subjects including working effectively with vulnerability and suicidality, trauma and resistance.