Law Vibe

In a recent article by the LA Times, there is a description of a new lawyer training seminar, in which lawyers are expected to dig deep into their emotions to improve their skills:

The lawyer stood sobbing in the center of a darkened hotel conference room, ringed by dozens of other personal-injury lawyers. As the attorney recalled the final moments of his mother’s life, his voice cracked and his body shook with repressed grief. And all around the circle, the lawyers watching him also began to weep.

Then the others began to make their own confessions: “My parents died … ,” one began, his voice husky with tears. “I was disconnected from my father …,” another said. “All of a sudden, I thought about my mother … ,” a third added.

The leader of the seminar is a lawyer named Judd Basil. He is a disciple of Gerry Spence (author of many best-selling books, including How to Argue and Win Every Time and Win Your Case) who has been teaching this technique at his trial college as a three week course.

Basile and his mentor, lawyer and author Gerry Spence, say the technique helps attorneys become better people. Proponents also contend that it can help them persuade juries to award millions of dollars to their clients — about 40% of which typically goes to the lawyer.

Psychodrama, in which participants gain insight by acting out scenes from their own lives, was developed by Romanian-born psychiatrist J.L. Moreno, who brought it to the U.S. in the 1920s.

Here’s an example of a technique used :

A facilitator asked the lawyers to imagine a client who had touched them deeply. Then, she said, “Take on the physical persona of that client.” Finally, she asked the lawyers to tell the client’s story — in the client’s voice.

Lawyers began to act like car crash victims with missing limbs, or like people with brain injuries or disfigured faces.