Small Law Firms, Solo Practitioners

So What's Your Story?

What is your personal narrative as a lawyer, and why does it matter?

By  
on

The first step in putting yourself out there is knowing what you are about. You absolutely need to be able to present who you are to people in a simple, cohesive fashion. Otherwise, it can be difficult to make connections with people.

If you are stumbling on who you are or what you do, people lose interest. You need to be able to simply, and quickly, tell a story about who you are. Something that communicates what you are about — as a person and as a professional. You need to be able to express your personal narrative.

We are all affected by stories. It’s how we communicate and describe the world around us. The better the story, the more we are engaged. Not only are we more engaged, we are often willing to pay more, or rate things higher, when we know their story:

If we are compelled by the description of the vineyard, its owners, or its history, we are likely to pay more for a bottle. [Columbia University neuroscientist Daniel] Salzman admits, after we’ve handed in our scores, that that’s the reason he gave us so much background on the wines beforehand.

Information about the vineyard at least tells us something about the wine, but even factors that don’t, like price, can have an influence. More expensive wines are often rated higher on taste than cheaper ones — but only if tasters are told the price ahead of time.

The storyline behind higher-end products such as coffee and wine increases enjoyment of such products by consumers. Knowing the background and history of the products makes it more likely that the consumer will form an emotional attachment with the product, which will in turn lead the consumer to establishing a regular purchasing relationship with the product.

So if this is true for “high end” products like coffee and wine, is it true for “high end” professional services like law, accounting, and financial management? Should lawyers be establishing a personal narrative? Should they focus on their “branding?”

Sponsored

First off, you have a reputation, not a brand. You are a person, not a company.

Think of a strong “personal narrative” as similar to an “elevator pitch” — summing up who you are and what you’re about in 60 seconds or less. Are you comfortable with who and what you are? Do you know yourself well enough to look someone in the eye, take a stand, and say this is what I’m about without apologies? This is difficult for many people. Not wanting to alienate anyone, people moderate their voices, adopting vanilla opinions and language. But you cannot dither as a lawyer. The entire point is to take a position and defend it.

So if you are going to make connections with other people, you need to be confident in who you are and what you do. A lawyer who is able to quickly communicate his background and history to his co-workers and clients is one who is more likely to be able to quickly establish emotional attachments and relationships with his co-workers and clients.

But these efforts must be genuine, and not tied to some sort of return on investment. Relationships are not financial products, to be assayed, measured, bought and sold. Yet they are some of the most valuable things we possess.

Sponsored

Keith Lee practices law at Hamer Law Group, LLC in Birmingham, Alabama. He writes about professional development, the law, the universe, and everything at Associate’s Mind. He is also the author of The Marble and The Sculptor: From Law School To Law Practice (affiliate link), published by the ABA. You can reach him at keith.lee@hamerlawgroup.com or on Twitter at @associatesmind.

Topics

, , , , , , , ,