2 thoughts on “Articles From Wonderful UNLV Symposium on Psychology and Lawyering”

  1. Thank you for sharing this! After browsing some of the UNLV articles, I agree that psychology is an important aspect of lawyering. I believe that there is an unspoken assumption that lawyers must maintain a professional demeanor and thus not connect with their clients or their cases on an emotional level. However, I believe this assumption is inaccurate. After all, lawyers are advocates & in order to effectively advocate and put the best case forward for a client, a lawyer must connect with that client and the case.

    A quote in “THE EMOTIONALLY ATTENTIVE LAWYER: BALANCING THE RULE OF LAW WITH THE REALITIES OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR” by Randall Kiser perfectly summarizes my thoughts on balancing emotion in the legal field.

    This quote states that a lawyer serves two roles: (1) an advocate and (2) a neutral advisor. The author provides that it is important for lawyers to recognize the distinction between the two roles. As an advocate, it is important for lawyers to feel the emotion of the case, so as to connect with clients & truly put forth their best effort in representing the client. On the other hand, as a neutral, lawyers must keep a professional demeanor.

    Overall, these articles are interesting and challenge the assumption that lawyers must remain detached from their clients and their cases in order to be effective advocates. As Rosa mentioned above, psychology be included in law school curriculum, as it is necessary for lawyers to understand and interact with people. (Although some classes touch on the subject – specifically our ADR course which discussed empathy when interacting with clients – discussing more topics on psychology would be useful).

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