How To Deliver Bad News

Execupundit.com: Credibility, Bad News, and Morale. One of the skills a lawyer must learn early is how to deliver bad news. A lawyer usually doens't get called until something is awry; so, a lot of what we do is damage control. However, most legal situations have a range of possible results, and some of them are not good. So, the delivery of bad news begins long before the words are spoken, or the "come to Jesus" meeting. As the Execupundit notes, credibility is the key. If you gloss over the bad facts in order to sugarcoat the results, your word won't be trusted. If you overpromise and underdeliver, your word won't be trusted. In fact, while lawyers have a reputation for negativity, the fact is that we have seen it all, and often the results are not what the client or the lawyer hoped for. This isn't a one way street. Clients are sometimes given to denial, or unrealistic expectations or demands. Sometimes, a client will drop their problem in the lap of the lawyer, and forget about it. When the result isn't what they hoped, they blame the lawyer. The fewer of those clients we have, the happier we are. Take Execupundit's advice: clear eyed views of a problem, candor based on trust, and a postive spin based on realistic possibilities are the best solution to any problem.