Book Review |
Muir ’ s book is a very useful contribution to the legal profession ’ s incipient thinking about “ soft ” issues in a period in which the profession is undergoing what will very likely be the greatest set of changes it has seen . We tend to think that the future will be like the past , and that the “ privileged ” role of lawyers in our society will continue . There is no reason that this will be the case . Much like Blockbuster video stores twenty years ago , we may be walking into a real change in how legal services are provided , what skills are valued and how lawyers practice law . Muir ’ s book gives us a way to start thinking about some of these issues , and is well worth investing a few days to read and think carefully about . ____________________ Joseph Ronan , Esq . is a solo practitioner in Norwich , working through his firm Ronan Law Group , PLLC . He has over 30 years ’ experience with two law firms ( Morgan Lewis and Blank Rome ) as well as an in-house position ( Bell Atlantic , now Verizon ). He has been listed in Best Lawyers in America and Superlawyers , and is an adjunct professor of law with Villanova University School of Law . He has a B . A . from Haverford College , and a J . D . and LL . M . in Taxation from NYU Law School . ____________________
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See B . Barton , Glass Half Full : The Decline and Rebirth of the Legal Profession , New York : Oxford University Press ( 2015 ) ( our summary is a very cursory reduction of a detailed discussion of the economics of law practice from 1776 to the present at 19-129 ).
2
ABA Law Practice Division et al ., The Path to Lawyer Well-Being ( 2017 ), available at : https :// www . americanbar . org / content / dam / aba / images / abanews / ThePathToLawyerWellBeingReport- FINAL . pdf
3
Legal Profession Assistance Conference , Drug and Alcohol Abuse and Addition in the Legal Profession , available at : http :// benchmarkinstitute . org / t _ by _ t / mcle / sa . pdf
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D . Goleman , Emotional Intelligence : Why It Can Matter More Than IQ . New York : Bantam Books ( 2005 ). Goleman has more recently authored a short book elaborating on the EI theory and purporting to tie much of it back to developing areas of neuroscience . See D . Goleman , The Brain and Emotional Intelligence : New Insights . Florence , MA : More Than Sound Publications ( 2011 ). Goleman attempts to argue in this book that recent neuroscience has identified distinct areas of the brain responsible for EI functions , as opposed to cognitive functions . This set of discoveries , it is argued , supports the idea that EI functions are distinct from cognitive functions . Again , this seems potentially the same sort of argument as splitting walking into distinct functions ( discussed below ).
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See http :// eiconsortium . org /. Yale and Harvard , among other universities , have established groups on EI as well .
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This statement has led to an amusing retort , discussed in : http :// www . scmp . com / news / china / article / 1242750 / xi-jinpings-emotional-intelligence-comments-spark-debate
7
See https :// www . youtube . com / watch ? v = iaQbC5bgh2s . The whole quote is : ““ The law is reason free from passion … Man , when perfected , is the best of animals , but when separated from law and justice , he is the worst of
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all .” Politics III . 1287a32 . This is not entirely fair to Aristotle , whose concept of virtue contains a great deal of what we might call emotional content .
8
Muir points out that some researchers disagree that EQ can be learned or improved . See Muir 370 , n . 2 . In addition , her book does not seem to contain a discussion as to how much improvement is reasonable to expect . In our discussion , she indicated that perhaps a 10-15 % improvement is realistic , but that EI work also has the benefit of helping lawyers identify areas of weakness ; this is perhaps rather like learning that one has extremely bad eyesight--- there may not be much to do about it , but one can take corrective measures .
9
See W . Henderson , “ Is a Great Lawyer Born or Made ?” available at : https :// static1 . squarespace . com / static / 58d9b495be6594a702757b50 / t / 5 90f975a37c5813ac68a7521 / 1494194012093 / Is + a + Great + Lawyers + Made + or + Born . pdf
10
See , e . g , H . Halvorson , Nine Things Successful People Do Differently . Boston : Harvard Business Review Press ( 2012 ) ( devoting an entire chapter to “ grit ” as one of the nine things ).
11
See D . Van Rooy et al ., “ Multiplying Intelligences : Are General , Emotional and Practical Intelligences Equal ?” in K . Murphy ( ed .), A critique of Emotional intelligence . New York : Lawrence Erlbaum Associates ( 2006 ).
JR : Tell us about your background — how did you get interested in EI ?
RM : I have an undergraduate degree in psychology from Swarthmore , and always had a strong interest in the area . I went to law school at UT-Austin , and had in the back of my mind to somehow unite the two , which seem to be totally disparate in many ways . After law school , I started at a white shoe law firm in New York ( Davis Polk ), then went to Paris to be co-GC of a private company there , and am now consulting in my own firm , where I can combine psychology and law .
JR : Please give us the EI “ elevator speech ” -- what is it and why should we care ?
RM : EI is a way for lawyers to be more successful and make more money by being more productive , relating to clients better , improving their mental and physical health , and at the same time reducing their liability risk . For law firms and other legal employers , it is a way to increase attorney effectiveness , reduce liability risk , build better teams and become more profitable .
JR : What would you say is the best “ hard data ” supporting the view that focusing on EI skills is a productive use of resources for lawyers ?
RM : My book goes into detail on that , and there is now a considerable amount of data supporting the view that this is a worthwhile effort . As is often the case , lawyers are behind businesses ( their own clients ) and other professionals ( such as in healthcare ) in pursuing this .
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JR : Why do you think lawyers do so poorly in EI assessments ?
RM : It ’ s an interesting question . There is some evidence that people who go to law school tend to be folks with relatively lower EI levels , and then law school itself may reduce the level . Certainly , there is a sense that the law attracts “ skeptical rationalists ” who may not be comfortable with emotional issues . And then practice may tend to worsen the situation . The area where lawyers score the lowest is in the perception of their own and others ’ emotions , “ emotional awareness ,” a critical skill for building other EI skills .
JR : Can EI skills really be improved / taught ?
RM : Yes , I am convinced it can be , and my book discusses the general agreement amongst theorists on this point . It ’ s not as clear exactly how much improvement one can realistically expect , but learning one ’ s relative strengths and weaknesses is in itself very valuable .
JR : One of the critics of EI cites this example . He polled a number of workers in a business and asked whether they would prefer a leader with a high EQ and average IQ or vice versa . Almost everyone said they prefer the person with the higher EQ . Yet , this seems illogical if we view EQ as teachable but IQ as not . What do you think ?
RM : While in many fields , we ’ d prefer the high IQ leader who is willing to try to learn and improve their EI , the problem is that , particularly in law , there is often no organizational push to improve EI or individual interest in doing so . So the high EI leader comes with a decided advantage , in that he / she is already equipped with the most important success factor . That doesn ’ t change the fact that EI theorists have recognized from the beginning that there is an “ entry IQ ” for many professions in which a certain IQ is required to do the work before the issue of EI becomes relevant .
JR : What ’ s the best way for lawyers to improve their EI skills ?
RM : I ’ d recommend starting by trying to improve emotional awareness . Studies indicate that this is the area where attorneys generally are weakest . Raising emotional awareness itself can positively affect other skills . So start there and then try to improve in other areas . Again , my book goes into this in some detail .
JR : Should lawyers take an EQ test ? If so , which one ?
RM : I generally use the Mayer-Salovey- Caruso EI Test ( MSCEIT ), which is an “ ability-based ” assessment like the SAT , asking you to solve scenarios involving emotions .
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