Legal coaching
Legal coaching is an operating method in legal consultancy in which coaching skills are employed to support an individual. Legal coaching is thus exclusively practiced by legal professionals during or instead of their legal support during a mandate. A lawyer providing legal coaching will be booked and paid by the client as a legal and as a coaching professional to explore and achieve the ideal legal solution. Legal coaching is used in legal counseling by a lawyer much as medical coaching by a medical doctor.[1][2]
Legal coaching is thus coaching performed by lawyers and is to be distinguished from coaching of lawyers: In the latter case, lawyers are coached on career topics (business coaching) by a coach who is not necessarily a lawyer but has experience with legal careers. The use of the term "legal coaching" (like legal counseling or legal advice) in the sense of "career coaching for lawyers" is therefore misleading.[3][4]
Legal coaching is particularly helpful when the client seeking a (legal) solution to a (legal) problem is still undecided which solution fits best for his individual situation and personal life. Legal counsels in organizations also use legal coaching to accommodate and navigate differing and potentially opposing interests in different departments within a company in order to come to a consensual legal solution.
In strong contrast to mediation, the lawyer involved in the legal coaching process will retain his partiality to his or her client and will be not the “third person” in a conflict of two. Due to the borrowings from arbitration and negotiation, legal coaching can be used to manage conflict and negotiation situations in a structured, moderated and solution-oriented manner where the legal coach is on the side of his client.[5][6][7]
Method[edit]
On one hand, the method of legal coaching is an adaptation of the increasing professionalization of the coaching profession and caters specifically to legal professionals to provide a high end specialized coaching experience in difference to low budget and standardized coaching through platforms or artificial intelligence. On the other hand, professional legal coaching and the certification as such may be used by legal professionals to promote their own profile through specialization and thus provide clients with unique tools on an ever more competitive market. Legal coaching can also aid legal professionals in responding to the increased demand for legal support through human interaction in times of easily accessible and inexpensive legal tech solutions (e.g. legal portals).It thus closes the gap between the mere legal consulting of a mandate, negotiation and mediation.[8][9]
The objectified legal consultancy is therefore replaced by an individual development process with professional legal support: In addition to the facts of the case concerned, the lawyer employing legal coaching techniques will also, for example, aim to grasp motives, systemic interdependencies, and the overall life goals of the client.[10]
Last but least, by picking up the intrinsic motivation and the crisis stage of the client in a differentiated manner, above all with empathy and emotional intelligence (EQ), the lawyer will seek to partner with the client to develop individually sustainable solutions together with the client.[9]
The legal coaching process thus allows the "human component" of the lawyer to emerge: his human presence in the conversation.[11][12]
Areas of application[edit]
Legal coaching is primarily established in the Western world—such as in the EU and in English-speaking countries such as the U.K., Canada and the U.S. Different to Europe, the number one reason in the US and Canada to include legal coaching into the legal consultancy by the legal profession was to find a way of providing affordable legal support and easier access to justice.[13][14]
To do so, legal coaching in this context is practiced by lawyer before or instead of a regular legal mandate to allow for lower legal fees. The legal professional will support the client as a “behind the scence” legal coach to provide guidance and mentorship, to develop strategies and share knowledge and practical tools, provide tips about courtroom etiquette and decorum.[15] Legal coaching thus also commonly implicates, that a lawyer will offer assistance throughout the case on all issues or will provide that support at key moments in the court process.[16]
Legal coaching is usually practiced by lawyers who completed a professional coaching training. Such a training may be a coaching training specifically tailored to lawyers or a general coaching training. In the latter instance, lawyers have each adapted their coaching methods individually to fit the specific needs of legal professionals. This can lead to subjective differences in the application and/or implementation and quality of the legal coaching. The method of mediation historically went through a similar process until Acts concerning the practice of mediation were passed in several countries to ensure a quality standard (for example Mediationsgesetz in Germany).[17]
It is debatable whether lawyers who completed solely a general coaching training may also call themselves “legal coaches” and whether they may declare the activity they are performing as “legal coaching”. It is at least recognized that the same standards as in professional business coaching must also apply in legal consulting, i.e. in legal coaching: Coaching training should be accredited by a professional association, should be business-related and the legal coach should seek certification to prove professional implementation.
As long as the profession and the practice of coaching are not regulated by law, the quality standards of professional coaching are being set and controlled by professional associations for coaches (like the International Coaching Federation ICF, AC or EMCC), which were established 25 years ago.[18] They are currently regulating the professional coaching market and are well-recognized in business and academic education all over the world in all industries (e.g., in master's degree programs in communication science at universities). In this respect, the legislature is not seeing any need at the moment to claim a state monopoly on education or to intervene in a regulatory manner to avert danger, as opposed to the situation with medical or legal education, e.g. by imposing minimum requirements for training and licensing.[19] However, in fields where coaching is practiced by persons of a profession with a training monopoly, such as legal coaching by lawyers, the corresponding professional codes of conduct and licensing requirements apply anyway, including the obligation to have professional liability insurance as well as the special requirements for diligence, confidentiality, and marketing. In this respect, legal coaches are more likely to be found on lawyer portals and lawyer search services rather than in the otherwise common coach databases or coach referral platforms.
Like mediation.[20], legal coaching is used primarily in family law[12][21][22] and business law,[23] especially in divorce law and in the area of mergers and acquisitions,[24] but also in criminal law.[25] It is also used not just in pure legal counseling but at the interface between the human resources department,[26] the executive level and the company in recruiting or in outplacement processes.[27] In addition, it is also used in the run-up to extensive or complicated litigation for the development of strategy and tactics. Both internationally and in the German-speaking world, there are now quite a number of lawyers and law firms who use this method[30] and employ it as an additional qualification.[28] The first legal technology application, My Legal Coach or My Legal Case Coach, has also appeared on the market.
In this context, legal coaching, similar to design thinking,[29] is also suitable as a method[30] to develop legal tech products and other technology-based applications: For example, the method was used in the world's largest hackathon #WirvsVirus 2020,[31][32] when the German government called on startups and developers to develop solution-focused products to combat the pandemic.[33]
Compensation[edit]
Legal coaching is generally remunerated in accordance with a private law agreement on remuneration between the lawyer and the client. However, in many countries, the minimum remuneration for legal coaching services is subject to the same regulations that also apply to the remuneration of lawyers for their regular legal consulting services.).[34] A legal coach, similar to a specialist lawyer, is considered as an expert and can usually charge an increased hourly rate of at least €200.[35]
Training[edit]
Post graduate training in legal coaching for lawyers, like any other training in professional coaching, is carried out in accordance with the quality standards for coaching trainings,[36][37] like the accreditation process for coach training programs by the International Coaching Federation[38] or like the Legal Coaching Training Program certified by the CLP-Academy, founded in 2016.[39] Thus, on one hand, the respective national legal rules and regulations for coaches, coaching trainings and the practice of coaching have to be complied by, on the other hand, compliance with the professional regulations for lawyers[40] and legal education has to be ensured as well. Since 2021, a so called Certified Legal Coach (CLC) certification is available in Canada which is provided by the Certified Coaches Federation.[41] It entails an online weekend training and a membership in the Legal Coaches Association.[42]
Legal coaching trainings, with their combination of theory and practice, are roughly comparable to the training to become a specialist lawyer or to become a mediator. Similar to these trainings, legal coaching trainings cost several thousand euros (more than €5,000).[43] After completion of the training, the trainee will receive a training certificate as a so called legal coach by a licensed institute.
References[edit]
- ↑ "Mastering the Art of Legal Coaching". goodreads.com. Retrieved 2021-04-19.
- ↑ "Legal Coaching as an Alternative". cbabc.org. Retrieved 2021-04-19.
- ↑ "Home". The Legal Coaches Association. Retrieved 2021-04-19.
- ↑ "What's Legal Coaching". Alinea Legal Coaching. Retrieved 2021-04-19.
- ↑ Tutschka, Dr Geertje. "Herausforderungen im Beratungsmandat | Haufe". Advolux (in Deutsch). Retrieved 2021-04-08.
- ↑ Tutschka, Geertje (2019-01-29). "Verhandlungsführung 4:0: Mediation vs. (Legal) Coaching". Soldan #insights (in Deutsch). Retrieved 2021-04-08.
- ↑ Tutschka, Geertje (2019-04-25). "Legal Coaching: The New Fish in The Pond". legalbusinessworld. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
- ↑ "Legal coaching: disrupting the status quo". canadianlawyermag.com. Retrieved 2021-04-19.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Tutschka, Geertje. Strategische Kanzleientwicklung (in Deutsch). De Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-072642-8. Search this book on
- ↑ "Coaching vs. Beratung – eine Frage der Perspektive". coaches.xing.com. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
- ↑ "Legal Coaching". Stark Solutions. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Miller, Joel (2017-05-15). "What's Legal Coaching?". The Family Law Coach. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
- ↑ "What is legal coaching? – Luke's Place". lukesplace.ca. Retrieved 2021-04-19.
- ↑ "Legal Coaching". Stark Solutions. Retrieved 2021-04-19.
- ↑ Stark, Jo-Anne (2020-05-15). Mastering the Art of Legal Coaching: The Legal Professional's Guide to Empowering Clients. Tellwell Talent. ISBN 978-0-2288-2972-0. Search this book on
- ↑ "Coaching für Anwälte (PrintPlu§)(Hofmann-Schmid, Gabriele) - Schulthess Buchhandlungen - Kommentare, Repetitorien, Fachinformationen". schulthess.com. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
- ↑ Tutschka, Geertje (2018-05-22). "Frontmatter". Kanzleigründung und Kanzleimanagement (in Deutsch). De Gruyter. pp. I–VI. doi:10.1515/9783110519129-fm. ISBN 978-3-11-051912-9. Search this book on
- ↑ Quality Management for Coaching in Organizations by Books on Demand | eBooks - Scribd. Search this book on
- ↑ "Über eine mögliche Regulierung des Coaching-Berufs". coaching-magazin.de. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
- ↑ "Legal Coaching – ein Hybrid oder: Was der Rechtsberatung Beine macht". Beck Stellenmarkt (in Deutsch). 2018-07-12. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
- ↑ "Legal Coaching and/or Mediation Consulting | Levine Family Law Group | Divorce Attorneys | Oakland • Emeryville • Berkeley". eastbaylevinelaw.com. Retrieved 2021-04-19.
- ↑ "About Legal Coaching". hellodivorce.com. Retrieved 2021-04-19.
- ↑ "Legal Coaching". Dr. Feil Rechtsanwaltskanzlei (in Deutsch). Retrieved 2021-04-19.
- ↑ Tutschka, Geertje (2018-05-22). Kanzleigründung und Kanzleimanagement (in Deutsch). De Gruyter. doi:10.1515/9783110519129. ISBN 978-3-11-051912-9. Search this book on
- ↑ "Legal Coaching | JLongtin Law". www.jlongtinlaw.com. Retrieved 2021-04-19.
- ↑ Kaestner, Olaf. "Legal Coaching | NOW!". Retrieved 2021-04-19.
- ↑ "Vom Jurist zum Legal Coach". talentrocket.de. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
- ↑ Tutschka, Geertje. Strategische Kanzleientwicklung (in Deutsch). De Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-072642-8. Search this book on
- ↑ Kohlmeier, Astrid. "Legal Design". legal-revolution.com (in Deutsch). Retrieved 2021-04-12.
- ↑ Legal Coaching with Judith Mackin, retrieved 2021-04-08
- ↑ "#WirVsVirus". #WirVSVirus (in Deutsch). Retrieved 2021-04-08.
- ↑ BMBF-Internetredaktion. "Karliczek: Digitale Lösungen für pandemiebedingte Herausforderungen - BMBF". Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung - BMBF (in Deutsch). Retrieved 2021-04-12.
- ↑ Wagner, Jens (2018). Legal Tech und Legal Robots: Der Wandel im Rechtsmarkt durch neue Technologien und künstliche Intelligenz. essentials, Management & HR (in Deutsch). Gabler Verlag. ISBN 978-3-658-20057-2. Search this book on
- ↑ "Wie Sie Ihre Kanzlei mit Coaching und Mentoring zum Erfolg führen". MkG – mit kollegialen Grüßen (in Deutsch). 2020-12-09. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
- ↑ "Juristische Weiterbildungen auf dem Prüfstand". berlineranwaltsblatt.de. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
- ↑ "Interview mit Dr. Geertje Tutschka". coaching-magazin.de. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
- ↑ "Legal Coaching – postgraduale Ausbildung für Juristen". coaches.xing.com. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
- ↑ Albrecht, Evelyn (2018-07-23). Business Coaching (in Deutsch). De Gruyter Oldenbourg. doi:10.1515/9783110353389. ISBN 978-3-11-035338-9. Search this book on
- ↑ "Interview mit Dr. Geertje Tutschka". coaching-magazin.de. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
- ↑ "Legal Coaching: Juristische Fachexpertise wirkungsvoll mit speziellen Kommunikationstechniken unterstützen". Deutscher AnwaltSpiegel (in Deutsch). 2019-04-03. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
- ↑ "CCF Successes - Jo-Anne Stark". Certified Coaches Federation. 2020-04-20. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
- ↑ "Home". The Legal Coaches Association. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
- ↑ "Juristische Weiterbildungen auf dem Prüfstand". berlineranwaltsblatt.de. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
This article "Legal coaching" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Legal coaching. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
