What is Legal Coaching?
Legal coaching is a professional service offered by a lawyer to help clients who represent themselves and act as their own legal counsel. The key difference between legal coaching and traditional legal services is that legal coaching does not involve the attorney actually representing the client in an official capacity in a legal matter. Coaching can involve simply offering advice on a specific issue or subject, or it can include a range of support services designed to empower the client to take their own actions and make their own decisions regarding their legal matter .
Legal professionals who offer legal coaching will inform you of the limitations involved, and will clearly state that the attorney-client privilege does not apply. Any oral or written communications are not confidential. Clients who pursue legal coaching or unbundled legal services should understand the risks involved in doing so. Essentially, those who act as their own counsel take on some burden of risk that their legal counsel may assume in more traditional situations.
Advantages of Legal Coaching
Legal coaching offers a multitude of advantages for individuals seeking guidance and support in managing legal challenges. This innovative approach has proven effective for both those involved in legal matters and for legal professionals seeking to enhance their practice. For individuals, the benefits of legal coaching include increased knowledge of the legal process, which empowers them to make informed decisions and better navigate their circumstances. In addition, personalized support helps individuals develop strategies for communicating with legal professionals, managing their emotions during legal proceedings, and finding ways to alleviate the stress and anxiety often associated with legal issues. Legal coaches can also guide clients in establishing boundaries and advocating for themselves in their legal situations.
For legal professionals, legal coaching offers opportunities for skill enhancement, professional development, and personal growth. By utilizing coaching techniques, legal professionals can better manage their time and energy, improve their communication skills, and learn to manage difficult clients more effectively. Legal coaching also provides opportunities for reflection and self-awareness, which can help legal professionals address biases or emotions that may affect their work and relationships. Ultimately, legal coaching serves to empower both individuals and legal professionals to maximize their potential and achieve greater satisfaction in their roles.
Who Can Use Legal Coaching?
With our experience and expertise, we have been able to serve a diverse clientele of lawyers, law students, and private individuals. Legal coaching has taken off in the past few years, with many posting private notes on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media sites about their recent experiences, including my friend, Susan Smith Blakeney, who recently posted this message: We should all consider legal coaching. As I coach many clients through their divorce, I often encounter an oppositional spouse or dynamic where opponents might as well be enemies. Emotions and hurt are driving their decisions, so results are compromised by their inability to communicate and to listen to the counsel of their attorney. Our clients can benefit from our participation. It gives them a confidante to bounce facts, ideas, and new information off of. We can help clients get connected, and we can find industry experts that can help them deal with any remaining issues in their case that might be holding them back. Let’s review why each group has found they benefit from our services.
As lawyers, we have received many calls from other lawyers looking for assistance due to a recent life event. These events can range from a DUI arrest, to divorce, to needing trial support out of town, to a family member getting arrested. We have coached attorneys through their own divorce, through managing their own finances after the divorce, through their DUI arrest, and through their parole. These attorneys have called us to help them find counsel in other states and counties, had us appear on their behalf when traveling out of town, and assisted their family and/or friends get out on bail while they could spend time with their family during this traumatic event.
There are many career coaches for law students. We have consulted with many law students last year to help them through their stress and find a way to calm their nerves. Many clients have discovered how to become debt-free upon graduation, to be responsible with their student loans down the line, and to understand the job market and how to navigate it. How to put their best foot forward during their interviews in that first post-law-school job, is vital to their success. When my son Matt graduated law school, got engaged, and began his first associate job, we did a family meeting over several weekends to set the budget for their first year. We discussed how much his salary would be and what he was responsible to pay for. We then discussed what her salary would be, and how much they could set aside to pay for their wedding, and how much they could save in the bank. Setting this budget early on gave them the cashflow they needed to survive during the tough times. Also, it is helpful to see how many lawyer friends they had in Tampa and how they would make those contacts to build their own partnerships, and to better themselves and their community.
We also have many individuals who need coaching. Not only do we coach individuals in a divorce, but they have come to us for other legal needs. We have met with clients who needed to negotiate contracts, to learn how to deal with their debts, to renegotiate their payments, and to speak with their creditors directly to build good faith on both sides. Most of my clients’ work is through referrals. We are always here to answer questions and listen to a situation. As coaches, we serve a variety of people from different walks of life, but the common denominator is they are people who are determined to succeed, are willing to do the work, and to listen to our advice.
How Do You Select a Legal Coach?
Selecting the right legal coach for your needs is a critical step in ensuring a successful coaching experience. Here are some criteria to consider when choosing a legal coach. Qualifications: While coaching certifications and proven expertise in the legal field are invaluable, remember that coaching has little to do with a piece of paper. Look for coaches with experience who can demonstrate their methods and results. Ultimately, the rapport you have with your coach will be the most significant factor. Specialization: Just like attorneys can specialize in a particular area of the law, so can coaches. Identifying a coach that specializes in your specific area of practice will give you a terrific edge in your sessions. Experience: A successful coaching relationship requires a deeper understanding of your goals. Quantify your goals and then quantify the experience of the legal coach. Do they have the credentials, the references, and the reputation? Remember, this is your investment and you have every right to vet deeply. Work with the Right Coach: Find someone with whom you work well. Just as we all choose and connect better with some attorneys than others, not all legal coaches are a match for you. I suggest you meet or speak with several before deciding on the right one. Just like a match.com date , the relationship you have with your coach must fit. Coaching Expectations: Set clear expectations and shared objectives. Will you meet weekly? Monthly? Do you coach only on the phone or in person? Will the coach, for example, review a retainer agreement, giving it scene and assessing its strengths and weaknesses? If not, why not? Every coach has different approaches and you need to know if it is a match for you. Distance Learning or In-Person: While most coaching is accomplished face-to-face, I have clients whom I live much further away from. Online coaching, particularly through Skype, has been an eye-opening experience to me. I was skeptical at first, but just did an assessment with a potential new client from a foreign country – it was effective and professional. However, there is nothing like speaking face-to-face, in person. It is a superior approach. Cost: As in everything, you get what you pay for. Go back to the factors mentioned above and weigh them against the pricing. Try to find that perfect balance between budget and value. Money spent on a good coach may save you far more down the road. While this does not cover every single factor, it does touch the high points to consider. Find your "fit" and get the help you need to improve your practice.
Legal Coaching versus Mentorship
Understanding the difference between legal coaching and legal mentorship is key to charting a successful path in your career. Legal education and training succeed at preparing students for the broad set of knowledge they will need to begin their careers. They do not, however, offer practitioners a way to establish a clear path for professional development and achievement as a practicing lawyer. Legal coaching and legal mentorship are two distinct strategies which can be used to help lawyers take steps forward in their careers. Legal mentorship takes the form of establishing a relationship with a senior lawyer who can offer significant insight. Legal coaching, on the other hand, involves the use of a process to create a holistic awareness and discovery in the legal professional. This helps that individual determine how professional relationships may aid their learning and career trajectory. Legal coaching can help lawyers understand the true value of mentoring. When a lawyer learns how to harness the power of their unique talents and experiences to help others on a career path, it provides an entirely new perspective that helps them recognize the benefit of seeking similar assistance for themselves. Coaching sessions also allow practitioners to develop their "advising equity" — that is, to find opportunities to help someone else, act as a sounding board, and learn from the experience. Taking the time to give back to others can help lawyers understand that while mentoring may be a laudable goal, continued growth and advancement requires a more formal, structured approach to identify, create, and pursue opportunities. Establishing a mentoring relationship with a more experienced lawyer can help a professional better understand their strengths, weaknesses, and limitations. Having someone with deeper experience rely on you to succeed will not only help you cement what you have learned, but will also allow you to build your confidence and grow your skill sets. Mentoring relationships can help lawyers hone the "informal" skills they need to advance in their careers. A coach, on the other hand, can help an individual understand how to leverage these skills and develop additional ones in different contexts. Legal coaching and mentorship are not contradictions, but rather complementary paths that can be pursued by a lawyer on their career advancement path. For any individual who hopes to achieve true success in the legal field, both strategies can help provide the clarity and focus necessary to meet their goals.
The Future of Legal Coaching
The future of the legal industry is a vibrant one. As new generations enter the legal space, they do so with a very different mindset about what success looks like and how to practice law. And though millennials have figured out that the whole drive for prestige in the legal profession is not what it has been cracked up to be, many still struggle to find their way as they figure out a whole new paradigm for what a successful and fulfilling career looks like. What if you knew you could be happy with your work and life without having to decide between your career or your happiness? Wouldn’t you want to find out more?
Coaching is a way to help you achieve career happiness, success, and fulfillment. It will help you work through obstacles, create goals, and provide you with a roadmap to achieve them.
The future of legal coaching is bright. Not only is the market for coaching growing and expanding, our coaching providers are on the leading edge of innovation . Innovative changes in the coaching space include using technology to craft new and enhanced products and services to better guide clients through their career. Other innovations focus on expanding the way lawyers connect with specifically trained coaches who understand the complexities of the legal industry.
Legal coaches are also pursuing innovative new ways to teach coaches how to provide coaching. We are redefining what it means to be a legal coach and who qualifies to provide coaching services. By transforming the paths people can pursue to launch a coaching career in the legal industry, we are introducing a wealth of exciting new choices for coaches and clients.
With the significant and ongoing changes in the legal profession and the growth of legal coaching, the future will bring expansive new opportunities for both coaching providers and legal professionals.