[Tone-Switch Lecture] How to Prepare to Be a Lawyer? — Attorney Li Wei-chung

Attorney Li Wei-chung recalled that during his pre-practice lawyer training, he was still full of doubts about how to become a lawyer. He originally thought that during the upcoming five-month internship period, he would have the opportunity to learn various skills needed by lawyers step-by-step. However, after actually starting work, he found that was not the case. Because many things—such as client interview techniques, structuring litigation strategies, and dealing with judges and opposing counsel—often have to be figured out slowly on one's own. Therefore, Attorney Li wanted to take this opportunity to share his experiences, allowing new lawyers to gain a basic understanding of the industry's ecosystem. His sharing is divided into four parts: getting along with clients, getting along with bosses, getting along with opposing counsel, and getting along with oneself.

Getting Along with Clients

Judging whether a lawyer is good or bad depends on whether they can establish a good relationship of trust with the client. However, the difficulty for new lawyers is that clients are often older than the lawyers, and young lawyers with only legal expertise but no social experience find it difficult to win the trust of clients. Attorney Li recalled a case he encountered when he first started practicing, in which he explained to a client that his claims might not be recognized by the court. The client smiled faintly and said, "Attorney, my son is the same age as you," clearly revealing a lack of trust in the young lawyer during the conversation. This incident led Attorney Li to rethink: do new lawyers have any advantages that senior lawyers lack, which can make up for the deficiency in knowledge and experience? Attorney Li later concluded that while being "young" is undoubtedly an unavoidable fatal flaw for a new lawyer, it is also their greatest advantage. After all, unlike senior lawyers who may handle hundreds of cases simultaneously and lack the time to thoroughly study the case details, new lawyers can make good use of their time to fully prepare and study case files. Being able to respond quickly and concretely to clients' questions during interviews can greatly reduce clients' concerns about the young lawyer's lack of social experience. Furthermore, actively explaining and communicating with clients ensures they are precisely informed of the progress of the current litigation strategy, realizing that the lawyer is indeed working hard. Naturally, this enhances the client's trust in the retained lawyer.

A very common problem encountered by new lawyers is that the questions asked by clients often exceed the lawyer's capabilities. If they directly state that they do not know or are unsure, it is very likely to make the client doubt the ability of the retained lawyer, and once this happens, trust between each other is difficult to rebuild. Here, Attorney Li shared a little trick he often uses: when encountering such a situation, first explain the general legal outline of the case to the client, but for parts that are not entirely clear, tell the client, "To protect your rights and not waste your time, I will look up the latest legal opinions and then explain it to you." Approaching it from the standpoint of protecting the client's interests makes it less likely to provoke doubt from the client.

Finally, inevitably, there may still be clients who are dissatisfied with how the retained lawyer handles the case. Although a lawyer's duty lies in protecting the client's rights, "self-protection" is also a very important means at this time. For example, if a client asks the lawyer to add abusive or emotional language against the opposing party in the pleading, while such a move has limited help for the litigation and may risk defamation, if the lawyer completely refuses the client's request, they may be held accountable by the client if they lose the lawsuit. Therefore, if the client still insists on their own view after thorough communication, the lawyer can discuss with the client to include the client's opinion as an appendix to the brief, while keeping written records of the communication process as much as possible (e-mails, letters) to prevent the client from turning hostile and accusing the lawyer of dereliction of duty later if the judgment result is not as expected.

Getting Along with Bosses

Choosing the first law firm carefully is very important, because the boss's work style is a crucial key in shaping a new lawyer's character. In particular, one should choose a boss who is willing to cultivate newcomers, so as to have the opportunity to acquire more skills.

After choosing to enter a good law firm, another very important point is to figure out the boss's habits and preferences. For example, some bosses do not like to be talked back to by subordinates, while other bosses demand to be reported to on even the smallest matters. These nuances must be carefully observed to avoid stepping on the boss's bottom line; otherwise, friction with the boss is likely to lead to the boss's distrust, affecting the handling of future litigation cases.

Inevitably, young lawyers sometimes encounter situations where their views differ from their bosses. This could be a gap in legal interpretations or a difference in the direction of formulating litigation strategies. At this time, should one obey the boss's wishes entirely, or communicate moderately with the boss? Attorney Li believes that although the boss is the employer, the client's rights should also be protected by the lawyer, so one should still communicate with the boss in a timely manner. This is also a self-protection method to clarify responsibilities. However, how to communicate appropriately with the boss is an art. If you directly argue with the boss, it is not only impolite to the boss but often difficult to reach a consensus. Encountering such a situation, Attorney Li suggests that one can first express understanding and agreement with the idea, and then ask the boss how to handle it if the court holds the opposite view—bringing up one's doubts in the name of the "court" and using the court's perspective as an entry point, which is less likely to directly offend the boss.

In addition to the relationship with the boss, Attorney Li particularly emphasized that when working in a law firm, one must remember to get along well with the legal assistants. Legal assistants are like master sergeants in the military; although their rank is not higher than yours, they are experienced, and gaining the full assistance of legal assistants can make your work run much smoother.

Getting Along with Opposing Counsel

Lawyers have all sorts of personalities. Some lawyers have an aggressive style and are accustomed to using sarcastic tones to attack the opposing side. Of course, after all, a lawyer's most important job is to strive for the maximum benefit for their client, so this approach is understandable. However, as the saying goes, leave a little room for future dealings, especially in such a small circle as the legal profession—there is no guarantee that there won't be an opportunity to work together in the future. Therefore, Attorney Li suggests treating them with courtesy; a basic nod and greeting can at least maintain a good impression. But since you are serving opposing clients, if confrontation is truly unavoidable, try to focus on the issue rather than the person. For example, avoiding personal attacks by name against opposing counsel and merely stating that the opposing counsel's argument here may have flaws can significantly reduce the malice between both sides, or use your own client as a shield, telling opposing counsel that your client insists on this so you must argue accordingly. After all, as a lawyer, personal connections are very important, and getting along well with everyone definitely has more pros than cons.

Getting Along with Oneself

Being a lawyer is not just about dealing with legal issues; sometimes one even has to bear the psychological pressure of clients. Especially in family law cases, one inevitably has to put themselves in the client's shoes and immerse themselves in the situation at the time to make appropriate judgments. Over time, this poses an extreme burden on a lawyer's physical and mental health, making the cultivation of psychological resilience all the more important. Attorney Li shared a few methods for mood adjustment for everyone's reference:

1. Appropriately draw the line between official and private matters; do not bring work emotions into personal rest time.
2. Set a stop-loss point and do not dwell too much on the winning or losing outcome of a lawsuit. After all, the victory or defeat of a case is often caused by various reasons and cannot be fully controlled by a lawyer; persuade yourself that you did your best.
3. Have regular channels to vent your feelings. For example, classmates met during lawyer training can be people to chat with and relieve worries, because after all, some frustrations can only be understood by insiders in the legal circle.
4. Whenever you want to give up, reflect on your original intention when you first became a lawyer and maintain your passion.
5. Of course, physical health is very important; take good care of your body.