Cultivate Calm Clients

Crisis is inherent in the reasons that clients seek our help, yet the phenomenon is rarely acknowledged in the legal field. The result: traumatized clients.

AtarecentABACLE,“RedefiningCrisisManagement: Supporting a Lawyer’s Wellbeing by Supporting the Client’s Wellbeing,” a panel of crisis management experts presented steps for lawyers to reduce the effects of client trauma and the inevitable stress associated with the legal process.

“Crisis impacts every part of our lives,” said Meredith Parfet, founder and CEO of the Ravenyard Group, a crisis management consultancy. And it is complex, requiring a multidimensional approach to deal with it. Crisis has a physical and emotional impact, but also a spiritual dimension, explained Parfet, who is also a hospice chaplain.

For clients, a legal problem can be traumatizing on multiple levels, said Aaron Solomon, director of strategy and legal liaison at Ravenyard. On the outside, clients want to appear cool, calm and collected as they try to reassure employees, family and themselves while they develop a coping strategy, said Solomon. But internally, it’s a different story: “You’re scared.You wonder, is this going to threaten my career? Isthisgoingtothreatenmylivelihood?Whatarepeople going to think about me?”

Theplight ofclients often affects thewell-being oftheir lawyers, too.“

Lawyers wade around in crisis all the time,” Solomon said. “We pride ourselves on being detached, but we are definitely people who are at risk of secondary trauma and experiencing that crisis pain ourselves.”

Here are four tips to deal with the multidimensional aspects of crises for clients — and their lawyers:

Map out the litigation process and establish clear goals for clients. Doing so creates structure and order. “Thingsarecomingatyoufromeverysingledirection,” Parfetsaid.“Gettingasenseof‘HowdoIdothehundred

things that are being asked of me’is a matter of setting priorities.” That doesn’t mean establishing an outcome. “The hallmark of crisis is that nothing stays the same and that you cannot control the outcome,” she said.Ask yourself what are the one, two or three things that are your priorities and establish what is most important. Clearly communicate the strategy to clients.

Give your client space to be vulnerable. Clients need adequate outlets for their emotions. Check in with them abouttheirfears,whichtheymaynotbeexpressing.This outreach signals your support for them. “Sometimes I think people want to perform in front of their lawyers like they’re going to be fine, and it’s all business as usual, and that’s not their inner experience of it,” Parfet said.

Be an active listener. “This seems really obvious,” said Parfet. “And yet active listening suggests listening for what’s not being said, or for tone, or for well-being versusjustlisteningtothecontent.”Avaluablequestion: “How are you holding up?”Also, redirect a client away from the existential, which is unanswerable, to concrete questions that offer a path forward. Take care of yourself first. By addressing your stress, you can better assist your clients. Set limits. It’s OK to tell clients they can’t call you at 7 a.m. “You are protectingyourownwell-beingbysettingthoselimits,” Parfet said. And it will make you more effective as a lawyer. Take a walk around the block. Feel the sun on your face. Make self-care a habit, especially during intense times of crisis.

“These are things that when we overlay them on our technical skill, when we bring as much of our training as our humanity to bear, we get a setting where people feel safe to be creative, to think out loud, to support one another,” Parfet said.

“RedefiningCrisisManagement:SupportingaLawyer’s Wellbeing by Supporting the Client’s Wellbeing” was sponsored by the ABA Law Practice Division. It is one of more than 600 CLEs and webinars available for free on demand toABAmembers.