what make a good lawyer

by Chaim Ritchie 9 min read

What Makes a Good Lawyer?

  1. Compassion. The word “compassion” comes from the Latin “compati,” which means “to suffer with.” It entails a genuine recognition of someone else’s suffering and a desire to help them ...
  2. A strong communicator. Strong communication skills are essential for every lawyer. ...
  3. A good listener. Good lawyers listen. ...
  4. Tenacity. ...
  5. Depth of knowledge. ...

What Makes a Good Lawyer? Common Traits of Successful Attorneys Today
  • Passion for the Job. As a starting point, successful lawyers almost always have a true passion for their job. ...
  • Compassion for Clients. ...
  • Great Communication Skills. ...
  • Willingness to Listen. ...
  • Knowledge of the Law. ...
  • Strong Writing Ability. ...
  • Creativity. ...
  • Good Judgment.
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Jun 17, 2019

Full Answer

What distinguishes a good lawyer from a bad lawyer?

“Good lawyers treat the client professionally. Great lawyers personalize the relationship by recognizing the unique styles, interests, and needs of the individuals with whom they work. “Good lawyers do their best to keep promises about when work will be completed.

What characteristics make a good lawyer?

These examples could come from a range of places, including a:

  • Part-time job
  • Legal work experience
  • Non-legal work experience
  • Academic studies
  • Social or sporting situations

What does it mean to be a good lawyer?

Part 2 Part 2 of 5: Learning Essential Skills

  1. Practice critical thinking. In order to be a successful lawyer, you must be able to look at a legal issue from all sides in order to come up with ...
  2. Develop your writing skills. Lawyer often underestimate the writing skills that are needed to be a successful lawyer.
  3. Work on your oral communication skills. ...

More items...

What are the signs of a good lawyer?

Unprofessional or unethical behavior can include:

  • Arriving late or failing to show up for important meetings, or missing court dates
  • Making decisions of importance about your case without discussing it with you first
  • Missing filing deadlines, filing paperwork incorrectly or filing the wrong paperwork with the court
  • Refusing to return your calls or messages within a reasonable timeframe

More items...

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Personality traits that make a good lawyer

Academic acumen is obviously important when studying to become a lawyer. But, ultimately, a career in the law requires you to empathise with, relate to and connect with a wide range of people; from clients and clerks to judges and jurors.

Skills you need to be a lawyer

Throughout your legal studies through to your career practising law, you need to learn and retain huge quantities of information and be able to utilise that information and translate it into arguments and strategies to win your cases.

Helping you become a good lawyer

The skills and personality traits listed need to be consistently developed throughout both your training and when in the role as well. By doing this, and putting the proper time into preparation for every case, you will be more likely to provide quality representation to your clients in court and build your reputation as a good lawyer.

1. Enjoy Discussions With Good Arguments

For you to be a successful lawyer enjoying a well-argued discussion with people is a good one, because this shows you are on the right track.

2. A Persuasive Skill

Persuasion is another skill a good lawyer must possess. Being able to develop this skill can make a difference not only when presenting the case, but also to “convince” the court about your client’s position So, if you are considering to be a good lawyer, you’d better start training your persuasiveness.

3. Good Negotiation Skills

Negotiating is a key success factor that must not depart from the mouth of any good lawyer. In almost any case reaching agreements between the parties involved are essential in the profession. It is important to have a bargaining skill that will allow you to reach good deals before falling into more cumbersome procedures.

4. Great Emotional Balance

Due to the verse nature of the profession, lawyers are exposed to many arguments, which could affect their moods and even possible threats; so, not having a good emotional armor will be difficult to bear. Becoming a good lawyer, you must be ready to balance your emotions irrespective of the case before you.

5. Being Organized

With life being organized shows how serious you are as an individual, and this could speak a lot about your achievement. Becoming a good lawyer also depends on your level of good organization of both time and your job, knowing this secret shows you are one step closer to being a good lawyer.

6. Persistence is a Virtue

Persistence is synonymous to this profession and is another great virtue of a good lawyer; as a lawyer is never allowed to surrender. A successful lawyer must be willing to fight to the end to achieve your goals. As we know, all know failure is inevitable, but you will have to be prepared to stand up as many times you fall.

7. Patience

Another success factor of a good lawyer will always depend on his/her patience because the profession requires much waiting for the courts and other actors in the legal system. This could even last longer than expected. You must cultivate the character to learn to wait for hours, weeks and even months to resolve a case.

1. Compassion: One of the Many Qualities of a Lawyer

Compassion is an emotional response whereby one perceives another’s problem and authentically, genuinely wants to help resolve the problem. This is part of what lawyers do: People come to us with their problems, or to avoid future problems, and we help resolve or avoid the issues, whichever the case may be.

2. Ability to Listen

Effective communication skills are essential to good lawyering. One of the most important aspects of communication is listening. Of course, what we say, how we say it and when we say it are important. But we can only do it right if we listen first. Listen to your clients. Listen to your adversaries, your colleagues and the judges.

3. Assertiveness, Not Aggressiveness

I often hear people say, “She’s not aggressive enough to be an effective lawyer.” That’s not right. You don’t need to be aggressive — though you must be assertive. Assertive lawyers state their opinions and make themselves heard while remaining respectful of others. Aggressive lawyers attack or ignore others’ opinions in favor of their own.

4. Creativity

We need to be creative to find real solutions to the issues our clients face. Each matter is unique; each client must be handled differently, and each solution carefully crafted. While on the whole we lawyers are a rather risk-averse group, we must learn to think outside the box.

5. Perseverance

Success is achieved with perseverance. We must keep working, keep trying and keep going. We must be able to walk away when things are not working, take a break and come back fresh and ready to “fight,” negotiate, or whatever the matter requires.

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