Communications Skills

You can’t be persuasive if your message is confusing. Whether you’re arguing a motion or giving an interview on a political issue, clarity is what counts. A qualifier changes the meaning of another word or phrase. Too many qualifiers convolute ...

Last month’s United Airlines overbooking debacle and the subsequent PR disaster and brand implosion has me thinking of the value of communicating clearly. There’s much to be critical of in United’s behavior and initial poorly worded erstwhile ...

A law student is working on a direct examination during a trial skills program. She is practicing her presentation — how she stands, gestures and speaks. Each time through the examination, she asks exactly the same questions, with ...

If you’re a solo practitioner or in a small law firm, you are likely a slave to your smartphone, making sure clients can always reach you. As the managing partner at a small firm, I found it increasingly difficult to keep up with my clients' ...

A big part of a lawyer’s role is negotiation, and that means numbers. A lawyer has to be able to calculate the value of whatever is being negotiated. Case evaluation is part art and a lot of math. Pulling a number out of the air and hoping the ...

Unhappy clients often choose to file ethics complaints against their poor-performing lawyers. What leads to their unhappiness? It may come as a surprise, but most ethics complaints are not about incompetence. Instead, most complaints revolve ...

A television commercial for Butterfinger candy bars brags that they are “crispety.” Another advertisement claims they are “crunchety.” These descriptions are not words, and Nestle should not be trying to persuade us otherwise. One would think ...

How do you manage a post-speech chat with someone who chooses to tell you how the problem you spoke about affects their company, and convert it into a solid opportunity? Last month, I showed you how to greet and interact with the group of people ...

When your brain knows just the right word, you can be more concise. And sometimes you can slip in the verbal dagger without the victim understanding what you’ve done.

Every leader needs feedback. (Some need a little too much!) But, truly, how can you do your job without an understanding of what is going on in the lives of those impacted by your work? In the case of a lawyer, I’m thinking, of course, of your ...