What Impact Do You Make?

• Author: John Hollander
• Pages: 5-19

5

what impact do you make?

chapter one

What Impact Do You Make?

   era, clients and judges look for profes-

sionalism as the outstanding attribute of counsel — if

you demonstrate it, you will nd success in your practice.

Professionalism can be summed up in a few keywords:

• competence

• integrity

• civility

• rapport with others

A young lawyer can no longer build a successful

practice simply by the installation of a shingle that bears

the lawyer’s name along with the words, “barrister and

solicitor” or “attorney at law” emblazoned below. For

counsel to grow their practices, they must compete for

clients, which requires professionalism — both perceived

and actual.

Clients have greater faith in counsel with a decent

track record. Such a track record — success in court — re-

quires good counsel skills. In t he modern era, there is

a strong and growing tendency toward alternative dis-

pute resolution (ADR), which means that litigators