Message to quick-to-anger California attorneys: Your propensity for wrath in legal matters is far more than personally destructive. More importantly, it almost certainly works to the detriment of your clients.
The writers of a series of articles spotlighting lawyer-linked deficiencies that adversely affect client representation centrally include wrath as a core and worrisome component in the personal makeup of some advocates.
Its downsides can be clear and stark.
Frustration-induced ire directed toward opposing counsel, looming deadlines, required court appearances and even clients is – as we succinctly point out in today’s blog entry headline – hardly a prescription for professional success.
It is in fact more akin to a self-directed grenade explosion that adversely impacts every facet of legal representation. It raises its proponent’s blood pressure, often clouding judgment in the process. It sabotages what might otherwise be an eminently civil and outcome-enhancing relationship with other attorneys.
And it stresses clients, who justifiably rely upon their counsel’s competence and stability in guiding them through an important legal challenge. Individuals and families that retain a California attorney have a flatly reasonable expectation that their advocate will comport himself or herself at all times without emotionally erupting.
Sadly, that is far from routinely being the case. State legal authorities routinely sanction – sometimes even suspending or disbarring – lawyers who fly off the proverbial handle in ways that are both personally destructive and harmful to clients.
Wrath and related attorney outbursts do not spell conduct that any client needs to endure, even for an instant. Questions or concerns regarding questionable lawyerly conduct and/or actions that reasonably link to an adverse client outcome can be directed to a proven pro-victims’ legal malpractice law firm.