It’s no wonder they need lawyers

Have you ever noticed how "not-tuned-in" many dog-owners are to their best-friends?

If you're a dog owner you know EXACTLY what I mean don't you?  For everyone else, here's some background and an explanation about how this can help you with your law practice marketing & law firm management:

OK, so as you know I have a new dog.  And so for the past few months I've been out walking him at about 7:30 am every morning.  He's a very friendly little dog but sturdy.  Loves to get into it but not at all aggressive with big dogs, little dogs and he's even friendly with Ale's cats which is why she let me keep him when we found him.  Here's a video of him helping me teach a lesson on how to get new law firm staff members acclimated during their first day & week working for your law firm.  But I digress. . .

Most mornings this happens.  But today it was just too much.  Mini-dog sees another dog.  So he runs up to the other dog (I walk him on a 25' leash).  It's obvious to most people that he's no threat to their dog because of a.) his size; b.) his obvious friendly demeanor & body language (his joy is literally infectious); and c.) my words of assurance, "they're ok" etc.

But we have a few people on our route who are just totally NOT tuned-in to their own dogs.  They seem to have no clue as to the dog's mood or state of mind.  How can it be so totally obvious to me, and my dog that their dog is happy to have made a new friend and wants to play.

So we get alot of leash-tugging, and collar-grabbing and tranquil morning mood ruining behavior from these people who can't seem to "read" the situation at all.

As lawyers we're very good at reading situations.  Little gestures alert us to problems to investigate.  Slight nuances in tone or facial expression tell us that our clients' prospective new business partner isn't sharing the whole story.  And sometimes it's really easy, like when the language a witness chooses to use or avoids using communicates more to us than anyone around us seems to pick-up on.

It's no wonder our clients need us.  As a group we're generally better at reading situations than most of the other people around us!

I am sure there are a ton of law firm marketing, & law practice management lessons in this story for you but you're a lawyer so ascertain them for YOURSELF 🙂