The more you can recognize attorney personalities, the more effective you can be at communicating with them. There are lots of systems for defining personalities. Lorna Kibbey shared one, called the DISC model, in her podcast with me this week called LNP 120 How Your Personality Affects Your LNC Business Success. Once you understand the 4 DISC types, it is relatively easy to spot the types.
I go into the 4 types in more depth in the podcast called LNP 121 Attorney Personalities and How They Affect Your Relationships.
Here is an overview of the 4 types.
The D personality
is decisive, direct, dominating, demanding, determined and a doer. This attorney is outgoing and oriented to getting tasks done.
The I personality
is interactive, interested in working with people, influential, impressive and inspiring. This attorney loves people and is outgoing.
The C personality
is cautious, careful, competent, calculating, and compliant. This attorney is reserved and oriented to getting the tasks done.
The S personality
is steady, stable, sensitive, supportive, a specialist and interested in maintaining the status quo. This attorney is focused on people and is reserved.
Examples of Attorney Personalities
Dave Turk Esq. listens to you explain a case. “Yes, that is what we need to do. I will make a list of people we need to depose. I will make sure those depositions take place in the next two months. I will need your help to prepare for those depositions and I expect you to give this top priority.” Joe is a D personality.
Irma Walker Esq. listens to you explain a case. “You’ve done such a great job explaining this to me. I just love how you broke down the detail to show where the strengths of the case lie. I need to give you the phone number of my colleague at the Wilson law firm. They’d love to have you get involved with their cases.” Francine is an I personality.
Carla Rosa Esq. listens to you explain a case. “You are sure we have all of the records? Is anything missing? We need to think about who the defendants should be and make sure we do not miss the statute of limitations. I’ll make a list of what needs to be done.” Carla is a C personality.
Steve Sweeney Esq. listens to you explain a case. “I appreciate that you jumped in to help me with this at the last minute. I will make sure your invoice is promptly paid. We don’t want to lose your services because of delays in our accounting department.” Steve is a C personality.
When you think about attorney personalities, recognize that people can also have a combination of traits. An attorney may have both strong D and I components, or C and S components, or other combinations. The more you read about DISC components and apply them to attorney personalities, the more it helps you understand how to interact with your clients.
Listen to LNP 120 and LNP 121 at podcast.legalnursebusiness.com for more insights on this aspect of client management.