One of the main criterion for any legal job is usually a good ability to communicate, but the term ‘communication skills’ can mean different things and is very loaded, according to Jil Toovey, director, Innovative Knowledge Development (IKD) – a professional consulting company that works with lawyers in private practice as well as in-house counsel. Speaking at the annual ACLA conference, Toovey also identified the need for in-house lawyers to have an EQ, or emotional intelligence quotient, to get ahead.

A recent survey conducted by IKD found that poor communication was one of the most common problems with in-house legal advice identified by internal clients. Communication included aspects such as responsiveness, accessibility and commerciality, related to understanding the business clients operated in. To complement the high IQ lawyers need to partner with the business, manage people effectively and assemble a good team, according to Toovey.

A key aspect of relationship building is recognising what role to take when dealing with clients. According to Toovey, there may be times when lawyers need to say “no” to clients and coach them on realistic outcomes. In other situations, the damage has already been done and the legal team needs to become the ‘ambulance’ after the fact, Toovey said. A third role is where clients prefer their counsel to act as a bookie, simply stating the options and advising according to which one they would lay their money on.

Toovey also encouraged lawyers to ask more open ended or solution based questions. “Come in with curiosity rather than judgment. Don’t go in with that feeling of frustration and anger because he [the client] will hear it,” she warned. Toovey also frequently reminds lawyers that communication is not all verbal. “Only seven per cent of our communication is verbal, the rest comes from body language so it’s really important to be aware of all the visual cues too,” she said.

Examples of solution based questions: These are some solution based questions lawyers can use to hopefully get a response from a difficult client

How can we resolve this quickly?
Who can I speak to about a revised contract?
What’s going on? Tell me about this
How much time do you have to sit with me and talk about this?