Personal Qualities Needed to Be a Lawyer
Full Answer
Trustworthiness, listening skills, emotional awareness, diplomacy, and other human relations capabilities are the coin of the realm for successful corporate lawyers. (Again, excellent judgment and management skills are taken as a given for these positions.)
The Top Seven Personality Traits of the Best Lawyers: Seven Qualities Every Great Attorney Should Have 1 Many attorneys are cast in a negative light. 2 Their aggressive and argumentative personalities take much of the negative blame. 3 But that same aggressiveness and argumentativeness can be welcome. 4 In fact, as a client, those personality traits can easily play to the strengths of your legal case.
This is because if an attorney’s ego is damaged, that attorney’s next client, which could possibly be you, may suffer by having representation that is not on their game. Hence ego is vital to an attorney, particularly a rainmaker who one day could represent you. Empathy. Yes, you read that word correctly; empathy.
Resilience is the backbone to an attorney’s personality traits. The ability to fight off adversarial circumstances, people and even laws keep an attorney on the case and inevitably within the game. It’s easy to point out an attorney with ample supplies of resiliency.
In comparison, an attorney has an ego. Ego is another characteristic/instinct that powers the attorney into being an advocate as much as an adversary.
Skepticism is a key personality trait in many quality attorneys. To be a skeptic an attorney approaches issues and situations with a strong sense of judgment, if not cynicism. While being skeptical can be a bit wearing at times, second and third-guessing any issue can also offer a sense of protection.
As much as empathy is a personality trait, empathy truly arrives from an attorney’s deep-seated desire to assist those who need legal help. This is their calling, their life’s purpose, and it should be weighed heavily against any hint of the unfounded declaration that “lawyers are assholes.”.
In law school, attorneys aren’t taught bedside manner. Yes, they are taught confidence, however, theirs is a negative confidence that exudes from the attorney in the same prickly and hurtful manner as a porcupine’s quills. Of course, confidence has two shades to itself:
Client’s care must be taken as a primary concern by a lawyer or advocate and must be taken into consideration and acknowledged in a fact that client is the only person who is going to arrange for you and your family’s bread and butter and therefore, must be treated with utmost respect and sincerity.
A. Duties towards the Court 1 A lawyer or Advocate should be straight forward, and his arguments should be pointed clear and precise. 2 A lawyer or Advocate should have a sense of honour and pleasing manners in his arguments. 3 A lawyer or Advocate must be tactful in presenting the matter. 4 A lawyer or Advocate should not mislead the Court. 5 A lawyer or Advocate should not influence the decision of the Court by any illegal or improper means. 6 A lawyer or Advocate shall appear in the Court at all times only in the prescribed dress. He shall not wear a band or the gown in the public place (s) other than a Court. 7 A lawyer or Advocate shall consider when presenting the case and while otherwise acting before a Court, conduct himself with dignity and self-respect. 8 A lawyer or Advocate shall not enter an appearance, plead or practice in any way before a Court, Tribunal or Authority on behalf of kith and kin. 9 A lawyer or Advocate should not criticize the judiciary with malice. 10 A lawyer or Advocate should not act or plead in any matter in which he has some pecuniary interest.
Listening Skills. To be a great lawyer or advocate one must have and possess the quality and skill to listen to each, and every individual tend (s) to speak before him, develop the ability to listen to others patiently and carefully.
Analytical Skills. Being involved and as a part of the legal industry, a lawyer or Advocate must possess a distinctive attribute of analytical skills as if to crystallize the information received either, half or wrong. A lawyer or Advocate must be able to analyze the events by using the critical method of analyzing.
Based on the understanding of the event with full reasonableness and in a logistic manner, a lawyer or Advocate can make out and draw conclusions based upon the information provided to him and his past experience (s).
A good lawyer or Advocate must have the capacity and ability to understand the topics in its deepest sense and essence form, in lightning speed to understand the numerous things simultaneously, the client, case, remedy, and justice he wishes to seek, or likewise.
Public Speaking Skills. Well-spoken and be expressive being an essential skill that a great lawyer or Advocate possesses. A critical element (s) like public speaking and addressing a Court of Law, a lawyer or Advocate must be flawless and magnificent;
Lawyers must be orally articulate, have good written communication skills and also be good listeners. In order to argue convincingly in the courtroom before juries and judges, good public speaking skills are essential. Communication and speaking skills can be developed during your studies by taking part in activities such as mooting or general public speaking.
But it’s not all about projection. To be able to analyse what clients tell them or follow a complex testimony, a lawyer must have good listening skills.
2) Judgement. The ability to draw reasonable, logical conclusions or assumptions from limited information is essential as a lawyer. You must also be able to consider these judgements critically, so that you can anticipate potential areas of weakness in your argument that must be fortified against.
Law is not an abstract practice. Irrelevant of how well someone does academically, at the end of the day lawyers work with people, on behalf of people, and the decisions that are made affect people's lives.
At times, there will be more than one reasonable conclusion, or more than one precedent applicable to resolving a situation. A lawyer must therefore have the evaluative skills in order to choose which is the most suitable.
5 Important Qualities Every Lawyer Should Have 1 As glamorous as the practice of law is, the practice of law stull requires dedication and hard work. 2 One needs certain qualities to be the top of their profession, and to not have these qualities can adversely affect an attorney’s career. 3 Keep reading to find out what those qualities are.
In fact, as some aspects of law remain quite complex to the average person without legal training, it is very important that a lawyer have the communicative ability to relay that complexity in simple terms to their clients, which, of course, is a talent in itself. Sound Judgment. The ability to think critically is important for lawyers.
Analytical Skills. Lawyers must absorb a great deal of information, both during law school and when preparing a case, then be able to organize and analyze the information in a logical manner. If more than one law or precedent applies to a situation, lawyers must evaluate which argument best advances their cause.
This is because attorneys have to be able to vocalize or at least express with language, their viewpoint regarding a law. Communication skills are also vital in regard to an attorney’s clientele. That lawyer will have to be effective and persuasive as they explain potential legal outcomes to their clients.
It is as if lawyers have a sixth sense that enables them to be extra sensitive to a client’s needs. Of course, a bit of showmanship is involved. Not unlike a variety show host, an attorney has to be part actor, part advocate (for the client at least) and pragmatist in order to convincingly win a case.
They must be able to follow a chain of logic to identify potential trouble areas in their own arguments, and to spot weaknesses in the reasoning presented by their opposition or even their own clients. Lawyers must often exercise their judgment in deciding the best course of action to pursue.
Some lawyers choose to specialize in a particular area, such as tax law or bankruptcy. Either way, more and more successful lawyers possess skills that take them far beyond the court room or the legal brief, and the financial rewards for attorneys of this caliber with the right personal qualities can be substantial.