•  
  •  
 

Keywords

lawyering, human experience, soft skills, interpersonal human connection, Conversation, listening and attention, empathy, relationship-building rapport, technology

Abstract

Lawyering is a human experience in a digital world. Lawyers have long derived pride from labels like personal counselor, trusted advisor, and steady confidant. Sure, sometimes a productized legal service or one-off Turbo-Tax-style filing is all a client needs. But it’s still a people profession, the lifeblood of which is connection with others: clients, colleagues, witnesses, and countless more. Calls for attention to lawyers’ so-called “soft” skills have grown louder in recent years, tagged with descriptors like “people” or “business” or “professional” skills. Modern communication tools facilitate connection and relationship building like never before. But that which connects us threatens to disconnect us, too. A perfect storm of influences is redefining what it means to build a relationship, and to what extent we’re willing to trade in personal rapport and trust for efficiency, productivity, and cost-savings. When many are tethered to smartphones more than to people, are digital-first relationships a worthy substitute for the in-person first bonds of decades past?

Reflections on these questions anchor this interview-based study of 60 law students, legal personnel, and senior lawyers. The sweeping topics of human connection and technology cover a lot of ground; so too did the participants. Part II kicks off by defining the you-know-it-when-you-feel-it idea of interpersonal human connection. It conceptualizes it through four core attributes grounded in everyday experience and scientific study. Part III shifts connection into the conversation about legal “soft” skills, drawing on scholarship, client-facing studies, and competency frameworks—all of which tilt away from a black letter law approach toward a broader skillset that fights back against the profession’s longstanding reputation as one of “high-competence, low-warmth[.]” Part IV then frames the study through six modern influences on connection. From there, Part V dives into the study. After sharing design details and methodology, interviewee responses coalesce into nine themes. Part VI launches these themes into action.13 It makes the case that there is more the industry must do to sustain development of connection as a lawyering skill.

Download

Share

COinS