The Lawyer As Counselor

by Jack W. Burtch Jr.

In my second year of law school, I began working for a well-known Nashville

defense lawyer. He was in his early sixties then, as I am now. One day he said, “JB, I
want you to go to the county health department, find all the pamphlets on mental
health, and bring them back here.” Thinking this was somewhat unusual, I asked
the reason for his request. “Because many of my clients have trouble accepting real-
ity,” he said, “and I want to find out why.” Sometimes simply bringing clients into
reality is our job.

When I look at my law license with its faded friends, and they strongly suggested I come and
signatures, I see the words “Attorney and talk to you.” I didn’t know why he was calling
Counsellor at Law.” For many years, only that first either, but I was certainly intrigued. And after we
word registered. I was a lawyer. That meant I rep- had chatted for about half an hour, I started to see
resented clients in their causes. Within the the picture. Here was a successful executive in a
bounds of morality and legality, I helped them large organization who was being nudged toward
achieve their goals by zealous advocacy. I listened the sidelines. To me, the signs were obvious: more
to what they wanted and tried to make it happen responsibility for “special” projects; less line
for them. accountability; exclusion from meetings he once
Yet as the years went by, I began to notice led; less informal interaction with top manage-
something unexpected. In my practice in labor ment. I thought he was on the way out, but he
and employment matters, I could now see that didn’t have a clue. So, in the nicest possible way, I
certain types of situations tended told him what I saw and suggested that his time
Situations that seem mysteri- to produce certain types of prob- with this company might be coming to an end.
lems. Although each client’s case After his initial, emotional reaction, he sat very
ous to our clients often appear was unique, I began to see pat- still for some minutes. Then he looked up and
terns in both causes and solu- said, “They want me out. But they don’t know I’m
clear to us. This is not because tions. This wasn’t true for every now onto their game.” He paused again and
problem, of course, but it was for asked, “How can we use what we now know to get
lawyers are smarter, or have many. It then dawned on me that what we want?” In the shortest time I’d ever seen,
I might know more about how a this client was ready to turn disappointment into
better insight, or are gifted with situation would play out than opportunity. We met again to develop a strategic
those who had been enmeshed in plan, and a few months later my client walked out
legal clairvoyance. It’s simply it from the beginning. I was sud- of his office for the last time, as a happy man.
denly able to predict how a group Any lawyer who has practiced for a long time has
because the experienced lawyer of employees might respond to a had similar experiences. Situations that seem
new management directive. I now mysterious to our clients often appear clear to us.
has been down this road before realized the larger trajectory of an This is not because lawyers are smarter, or have
executive’s career could be fore- better insight, or are gifted with legal clairvoy-
and the territory is familiar. cast by examining a few recent ance. It’s simply because the experienced lawyer
assignments and duties. has been down this road before and the territory
is familiar. Notwithstanding the vagaries and
Creating Opportunity out of Disappointment complexities of human character and motivation,
For me, the counselor’s role came into focus people often react to given situations within a
about fifteen years ago when an executive called range of somewhat predictable responses. The
and asked for an appointment. “I don’t know why longer we practice, the more familiar we are with
I’m calling,” he said, “but I’ve talked with some those likely responses.

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 THE LAWYER AS COUNSELOR

Capitalizing on Industry Knowledge good idea to move the trailer off the property,
In academic legal counseling terminology, the since it looked like a billboard supporting the
lawyer’s accumulated past experience in a particu- struck company. He thanked me for my thoughts,
lar field is called “industry knowledge.” This term again told me to get an injunction, and ushered
refers to the information gathered by working me out the door.
through the same types of legal problems over The next morning, I got a call from the irri-
and over again. Land-use lawyers know how land tated general counsel of the parent company in
developers tend to react when interest rates drop; New York. He said if I didn’t have the fortitude to
criminal lawyers know that experienced criminal get an injunction, my boss would. So I went back
defendants have different fears than people over to the yard to get affidavits for an injunction
charged for the first time; trial lawyers know that hearing. After finishing up, I said to the manager,
eyewitness testimony isn’t always right. “Just do me a favor. Move the trailer and see what
Experienced lawyers armed with industry happens.” He humored me and hooked the trailer
knowledge have an advantage others do not. up to a truck. As it headed out the gate, the pick-
These lawyers can advise clients about legal issues ets followed in a line, looking for all the world like
and at the same time offer the benefit of their a small parade. Clearly, the men were picketing
experience. Experienced lawyers can suggest what the trailer, not the truck company.
types of approaches tend to work best and what
good outcomes might result — often to the sur- Practicing Client-Centered Counseling
prise of clients who haven’t considered these At the time of that strike, I was a new lawyer. I
options before. wasn’t a legal genius, but I had blundered onto
the revelation that not every legal problem has a
Practicing Legal Counseling legal solution. While I had not done any inten-
I did my first actual legal counseling by accident. tional counseling, I had proposed an alternate
Or at least I didn’t know I was doing it; only way to achieve the client’s goal without going to
hindsight made it clear. I was the new associate in court. Fortunately the trucking client’s goal was
a large law firm. Everyone on the labor team, clear, but that’s not always the case.
including my boss, was out of town. In order to discern client goals, the lawyer
The union employees of a client company has to somehow get inside the client’s head and
had gone on strike and were picketing the plant. view the issue through the client’s eyes. In mod-
This was expected and not considered a problem. ern legal counseling theory, this is known as
However, early one afternoon I got a phone call “client-centered counseling.” It focuses on the
from the manager of the trucking company next client’s needs, desires, values, and attitudes. This
door to the plant. Some pickets had moved over theory sees it as the lawyer’s duty to present vari-
to the trucking site, and the unionized truck dri- ous options that address the issue based on the
vers were refusing to cross the picket line. The client’s orientation.
truck facility was functionally shut down. Its Client-centered counseling derived from the
manager told me to go to court and get an psychological theory developed by Carl Rogers.
injunction to make the pickets go away. I got the Rogers believed that human beings seek to
facts from him as best I could and did some quick become self-actualized — to achieve their full
legal research. Because the company on strike potential. The counselor’s job is to show empathy,
owned the trucking company and was arguably in respect, and understanding so clients can make
a related operation, I didn’t think an injunction healthy decisions for themselves and develop their
was likely. In fact, there was a good chance that own potential to the fullest extent.1
losing an injunction could actually worsen the In legal theory, the client-centered approach
trucking company’s current situation. I told the was first introduced by Binder and Price2 in the
manager what I had found out, and he told me I late 1970s. This approach has also been referred
was wrong. to as the “autonomy” or “informed consent”
Late that afternoon, I drove over to the truck approach.3 Binder and Price introduced this
yard. A small band of pickets was patrolling the model as an alternative to what they deemed to
entrance. In the middle of the yard was a large be the “traditional” approach.4 Other names for
trailer. The name of the company being struck this approach are the “paternalist” and “best inter-
was painted, in large letters, along its entire est” approach.5
length. I suggested to the manager it might be a

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THE LAWYER AS COUNSELOR

Practicing Traditional Counseling Balancing the Merits of Counseling Styles

There is no evidence the traditional approach is a If part of the value an experienced lawyer pro-
single coherent model. Instead, it seems to be a vides is industry knowledge, then using the client-
much looser concept: simply the way profession- centered approach to practice presents certain
als interact with laypersons. Different lawyers challenges. Broadly speaking, most clients’ prob-
practice different ways, depending on their own lems can be broken into two categories: their
experience and what seems to work best for them specifically legal concerns and their more general,
and their clients. It has not been until recently nonlegal concerns.
that theories, methods, and approaches to client For example, a customer on the East Coast
counseling have even been discussed. Before, may want to sue a supplier for damages because
lawyers often relied on the approach they learned the widgets he ordered did not meet specifica-
from their mentors. tions. It is clearly the lawyer’s job to identify the
elements supporting a breach-of-contract or
-warranty theory. But if a recent upheaval in the
widget market has reduced the number of possi-
The practice of law is dynamic; different situations ble suppliers to two and the only other supplier is
located on the West Coast, the customer’s nonle-
require different approaches. gal concern could become paramount. Anything
that disrupts relations with the current supplier
now could produce even more adverse conse-
The traditional approach is probably just a quences over the long term.
romanticized view of the way some lawyers once Experienced commercial lawyers will view
practiced law. It stands in contrast to the new this as one problem with two components. The
approaches and theories of professional interac- first component, what the law requires, is the
tion. In truth, the successful practice of law prob- most straightforward. Commercial lawyers have
ably requires a pragmatic mixing of different so internalized these rules that they are able to
theories. More accurately, it requires a little of analyze the legal elements without much con-
each theory, depending on the particular situation scious thought. The second component of this
and the particular client. The practice of law is issue is more challenging and thus more interest-
dynamic; different situations require different ing. An experienced commercial lawyer will
approaches. Attempting to invent a universal remember the approaches that worked for other
method or strategy to be applied to every situa- clients in similar situations. Without telling the
tion likely will result in disappointment. client what to do, this lawyer can draw on years of
When the Binder and Price model was first experience to develop possible courses of action.
presented in 1977, it received substantial criticism This blended counseling style works, because
— much of it justified — from the practicing bar. lawyers, even unconsciously, integrate their legal
Decisions, Binder and Price argued, should be and nonlegal knowledge to give effective advice.
based on alternatives that bring the “greatest Few problems have purely legal solutions.
client satisfaction.”6 They said that lawyers cannot It is a lawyer’s job to honor all the client’s
really know what value clients place on different concerns — legal, economic, social, emotional —
consequences and what alternatives will bring the in developing a strategy that yields the best solu-
greatest satisfaction. Therefore, ideally, all deci- tion to the problem under the existing circum-
sions should be left to the client. A close reading stances. To do this, the lawyer has to ask pointed
of this approach led many to conclude that questions to figure out what the problem really is,
Binder and Price fundamentally believed lawyers even if the client doesn’t know or doesn’t want to
should not give legal advice. The lawyer’s only reveal it. (Few clients will freely admit they want
role, under this theory, was to evaluate the legal to disinherit a child because they did not approve
and nonlegal consequences of different courses of the choice of marriage partner. They will find a
action so the client could make the best choice, more palatable excuse.) Solutions to nonproblems
according to the client’s desires. aren’t solutions. Only discovering the real prob-
Possibly in response to some of this criticism, lem will uncover the real solution.
Binder and Price pulled back from this view in Of course, lawyers never have enough infor-
later editions of their textbook. However, they mation to produce certainty in any result. We
were careful to do so without compromising their negotiate deals, structure business transactions,
allegiance to client-centered counseling.7 and draft complex agreements to solve the errors

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 THE LAWYER AS COUNSELOR

of the past and control events in the future. We We have a reminder of our calling near at
assume that the way humans have tended to hand. Just look up at the license hanging on your
behave in certain circumstances in the past will wall. It reads “Attorney and Counsellor at Law.”
continue into the future. Otherwise, how could
we believe that, in most cases, our deals, struc-
tures, and agreements will work as intended? Endnotes:

Honoring Our Calling 1 See, e.g., CARL R. ROGERS, COUNSELING AND

Law is a multidisciplinary profession. Our work PSYCHOTHERAPY (1942).
2 DAVID F. BINDER & SUSAN C. PRICE, LEGAL
represents an integration of skills as we craft the
INTERVIEWING AND COUNSELING: A CLIENT-
strategies, plans, pleadings, and documents that CENTERED APPROACH (1977).
are our tangible work product. Surely our clients 3 See William H. Simon, Lawyer Advice and Client
are partners in these efforts. It is, after all, their Autonomy: Mrs. Jones’s Case, 50 MD. L. REV. 213,
problem, not ours. While we may be empathic lis- 213 (1991).
teners, we need to be detached from their prob- 4 See BINDER & PRICE, supra.
lems to provide an impartial perspective. 5 See Simon, supra note 2 at 213.
Some may argue that by emphasizing the 6 See BINDER & PRICE, supra at 148.
counseling role of the lawyer we are straining the 7 DAVID F. BINDER, PAUL BERGMAN, SUSAN C. PRICE,
boundaries of our profession. Most of us were not & PAUL R. TREMBLAY, LAWYERS AS COUNSELORS: A
trained as clinical psychologists. Only a few hold a CLIENT-CENTERED APPROACH (2d ed. 2004).
master’s of business administration degree.
Lawyers who think they can do it all risk being
seen as arrogant. But on the other hand, taking
too narrow a view of the lawyer’s role deprives
clients of the very service they hired us to give.
Clients call lawyers because they experience a
problem that requires legal expertise to resolve. If
their problems didn’t have a legal component, the
clients probably wouldn’t have come to a lawyer
in the first place, or the lawyer would have
referred them elsewhere. But few real legal prob-
lems have only legal components. The other
issues are there, even if they aren’t immediately
visible, and they need to be taken into account.
Giving good legal advice means the lawyer
must listen closely in order to appreciate and
understand the client’s particular concerns and
values. Good legal advice also requires the lawyer
to draw on personal experience, skill, and knowl-
edge to formulate the strategies and solutions that
will help achieve the client’s goals.

Law is a multidisciplinary profession. Our work represents an integration of skills as we craft

the strategies, plans, pleadings, and documents that are our tangible work product.

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