The Harris & Company director cautions lawyers to not lose the "human factor" of their work
Last week, Jonathan Harris shared with Australasian Lawyer the lessons from retail work he wound up incorporating into his career as a lawyer. In the second part of this interview, Harris highlights the cons of more impersonal communication methods like email, why strengthening relationships with other practitioners is important, and the value lawyers bring to clients compared to ‘off the shelf’ legal products.
It’s important that while we adopt and embrace new technologies, the profession continues to focus on fostering the inter-personal and collegiate nature of legal practice, particularly with the next generation of practitioners. With increasing time constraints, a rapidly growing profession, and the perceived efficiency of instant communication methods as email, there is a risk of losing the human factor which has been the basis for a collegiate profession for many years. The feeling of anonymity behind emails can provide a sense of control and comfort for practitioners, particularly those newer to the profession.
In a world where we default to exchanging correspondence by a flurry of emails, or connecting and networking by way of social media, there is a risk that we lose sight of the benefits to be had from real life, in person communication, and the effect that has on building strong relationships with other practitioners. In my experience, speaking to someone on the other side of a matter as colleagues rather than adversaries, can cover a lot more ground and narrow in on the real issues much quicker than less personal styles of communication such as email which lend themselves to being misconstrued or coming across as formalistic and adversarial.
I think the legal industry is currently going through a period of rapid growth, competition and adaptation. We live in an era where there is so much information (and misinformation) available at the push of a button and the access to cost effective pro-forma legal templates has never been more abundant. I think the profession is still trying to find its feet in terms of what the provision of legal services will look like in the future, and how we continue to justify the service we provide to clients when so much information and ‘DIY’ services are available.
This is where the trusted adviser relationship will continue to be really important. The value we provide to clients is in the personal relationship and the sense of comfort they can have in knowing that someone has given them tailored advice in light of their particular circumstance. There is a lot of nuance in the advice that we give, and very minor details which might not seem relevant can have a huge impact on the way in which we tailor our advice, or a particular contract/legal document. Clients have to trust that their lawyer will be able to appreciate those nuances and give them sensible commercial advice that meets their needs. That is really the value proposition for lawyers compared to ‘off the shelf’ legal products.
