Client Science

by Marjorie Corman Aaron

Lawyers know that client counseling can be the most challenging part of legal practice. Clients question and often resist the complexities and uncertainties inherent in law and legal process. Honest advice from the lawyer can make a client doubt his or her allegiance and zeal. Client backlash may be directed at the lawyer who communicates bad news. Thus, the lawyer may feel torn between the obligation to clearly inform a client about weaknesses in legal positions and fear of damaging the client relationship. Too often, the lawyer struggles to counsel a particularly difficult client, but to no avail.

Client Science is written to provide insight and advice to lawyers on how to more effectively communicate with their clients with regard to legal realities and difficult decisions. It will help lawyers with the always-difficult task of delivering "bad news," which will result in better-informed and thus more satisfied clients. The book explains applicable social science research and insights and translates them into plain language relevant to legal practice and client counseling. Marjorie Corman Aaron offers specific suggestions related to a lawyer's ordering, timing, phrasing, and type of explanation, as well as style adjustments for the lawyer's voice, gesture, and body position, all to impact client counseling and to improve the lawyer-client relationship.

288 pages, Paperback

First published April 6, 2012

Reviews

[Bethny · Rating 3 out of 5]

The impact of this book on you will largely depend on what skills you have already developed. I have already studied and trained in interpersonal relationships, so the second half of the book was not very helpful to me. However, the very practical tips for lawyering in the first half of the book were exactly what I needed.

There are some noticeable typos, but it's overall a helpful read.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this for a law school class. A lot of helpful information for how to interview and counsel with clients. I will probably refer to this again in practice.

[Heep · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the first chapter and skimmed after that. This is an excellent read (probably should be compulsory for new lawyers). It does an excellent job in describing the human aspects involved in the interactions between a lawyer and a client. New lawyers often have a very difficult time with this aspect of professional life. It is not enough to know the law and apply it to the facts. A lawyer must also engage a client - help the client understand the options available - and help the client make a good decision. The book does a very good job describing common emotional barriers to effective communication and decision-making. It also provides excellent advice about how to address these situations. In short, it brings to light an often neglected aspect of lawyering.