Legal Coaching & Counseling

A combination of psychological counseling and legal thinking, legal counseling can help the client process emotions, sort out agendas, prioritize and classify goals, accomplish extra-legal goals, find appropriate counsel, formulate instructions for the lawyer, negotiate, caucus, execute documents and achieve emotional closure. Legal counseling works with one, two, or several parties. It is useful where mediation cannot operate, such as situations where violence, fraud, or an uneven playing field are present. Legal counseling invariably saves precious legal time, answering clients' cost concerns.

In legal counseling,  the emphasis is on counseling the client to clarify issues. For example, a divorce client might have several legal issues but she also has some emotional issues. A legal counselor works with her to help her separate out the issues and to identify professionals who are most suited for her needs. So, she might want a mediator or she might want a strong litigator, depending on her case, the issues and her inclination. The legal counselor also works with her throughout the process, helping her stay focused and clear and giving her a forum for discussing issues before she takes them to the appropriate lawyer or therapist. I can see the value of having a legal counselor who works with an emotional client as he goes through a contested custody battle and many other situations where a legal counselor would forward the action in resolving a case.

Attorney Phil Daunt is an advocate for a "coach approach to law" that focuses on the lawyer's role as  coach, helping the client make decisions based on the client's values and commitments.

 As we lawyers have become coaches and have talked to other lawyers who have been trained in coaching, we have seen that our coaching skills are very useful in interacting with our legal clients. A coach supports a client in reaching goals and staying focused on their commitments. Lawyers can use these skills to work with their legal clients in many types of disputes. Irene Leonard King has written a workbook for lawyers that includes coaching skills for lawyers. You can purchase the book or find out more at www.coachingforchange.com .

Divorce coaches work in a specific niche in that they support clients in creating the future they intend to have with their spouse and children and then achieving that future. They keep their clients focused on the end result so they don't get caught up in the details. Not all divorce coaches are lawyers. Some are therapists, including those trained in Collaborative Divorce.