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FROM THE EDITOR
Lawyers: The Great Communicators
I recently visited a small-town public library. On the wall I spotted a small wooden frame, containing this quotation from George Bernard Shaw: “The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”
I commend this sentiment to every member of the Houston Bar Association.
This issue of The Houston Lawyer features articles about solo and small firm practice. My thanks go to special guest editors, editorial board members Don Ford and Angela Dixon, for their excellent work in recruiting the authors who address these special practice challenges.
In considering the challenges facing solos and small firms which are raised by these diverse articles, I thought about what lawyers are expected to do in their professional lives. It seems to me that in general people give us money either to speak for them (in the case of conflict such as litigation) or to them (in the case of transaction practice). And as we all know, no one goes to a lawyer for the fun of it. People hire us, and rely on us, not just to speak, but to do so promptly and with the greatest possible accuracy and authority.
Lawyers have one critical skill, no matter which kind of law we practice. Although our clients come to us for our knowledge and expertise, those cannot be passed along for the client’s benefit unless we exercise that critical skill—the ability to communicate clearly.
Back in the day, as a grad student working toward a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, I taught freshman composition for two years. That would be 25 recent graduates from mostly rural high schools, protesting plaintively that they’d never written three pages on one subject in their lives. I may have lacked sympathy. The basic focus of every class, and every weekly writing exercise, was to remind students that if you don’t think clearly and send your message effectively, the receiver of your message won’t get an accurate communication, and therefore cannot communicate accurately back to you.
You’re nodding—yes, you had one of those teachers, too. That message of clear thinking and accurate two-way communication doesn’t change when we add a J.D. degree and a law license from the Supreme Court of Texas. Communication is still communication. The four elements of critical communication skills—listening, speaking, reading and writing—are the same everywhere.
These skills affect solo and small firm lawyers in an especially direct way. A solo is the point person on every file. There’s no one at hand to confirm that the client’s question has been accurately understood and that the response is appropriate, direct and accessible.
Thus, we offer these articles as our effort at communication.
In this issue you will find our authors hard at work presenting numerous important points directed at solos and small practice attorneys. The information in these articles may also have useful applications for lawyers in other areas of practice.
Kudos to this issue’s authors and editors for their excellent communication efforts, as we aim to give you information to make solo and small firm practice more productive.
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