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. At a recent ABA CLE, “Redefining Crisis Management: 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.
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? Is this going to threaten my livelihood? What are people going to think about me?” The plight of clients often affects the well-being of their lawyers, too.“
“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.
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.”
For clients, a legal problem can be traumatizing on multiple levels, said Aaron Solomon, director of strategy and legal liaison at Ravenyard.
Map out the litigation process and establish clear goals for clients. Doing so creates structure and order. “Things are coming at you from every single direction,” Parfet said. “Getting a sense of ‘How do I do the hundred
30 Tulsa Lawyer
Here are four tips to deal with the multidimensional aspects of crises for clients — and their lawyers:
