By Wendy Yang -
Good communication is at the core of being a solicitor, be it dealing with the court, your client or a counterpart on the other side. In a high-stakes profession, how do lawyers avoid fighting ‘fire with fire’, and is the nature of modern-day communication part of the problem?
It’s 9am on a Thursday morning. As you sift through your emails from the previous evening, an email from the solicitor acting for the other side in one of your litigated matters catches your eye.
The email starts off with a recap of the points from your last email but as you read on, the tone shifts from professional to something more personal. Soon the content is no longer about the matter but about your competence as a solicitor.
As you brace to let your inner keyboard warrior take over, you suddenly pause. Do you a) respond in a similar tone, b) ignore them, or c) leave the email and respond to it at a later point in the day when you have had a chance to consider its contents?
