Don’t say a word said the lawyer…

Lawyers and silence are old bedfellows that should divorce!

Photo by Kristina Flour on Unsplash

Cop shows tell me that if I’m arrested in America I have the right to remain silent, that I shouldn’t say a word until my attorney arrives. The attorney will get angry if the client says anything before they arrive, shouting and probably throwing papers in the air for effect.

I never thought too much about cop shows when I was younger, not besides making a mental note never to say a word until my lawyer turns up and wondering who my one phone call would be if arrested. Funnily enough I have no idea what the procedure is in England...

It was only when I noticed life imitating art, with real lawyers leaning toward silence that I began to reflect on what I’d seen on TV. A few years ago I started posting more on LinkedIn; initially I was disappointed with the level of engagement I was getting from the legal industry, was it me? was my content dull? uninformative? perhaps too edgy?

A couple of years ago my content was vanilla, what do you look for when hiring a lawyer, how to be successful within the industry, how to make more money, practical answers to practical questions mostly. My mediocre engagement might have been down to me being a bad writer (quite possible) or perhaps something else was at play?

Over the years my conversation with lawyers has evolved, now I truth it.

I’m not really interested in speaking with lawyers about key competencies or interview techniques, I’m not particularly keen on discussing how AI might take over the law or other generic topics you find a lot of people talking about. I might reference something like that if there were a particularly quirky or amusing angle that I found engaging and thought some of you might too, but not for any other reason. I prefer to hold real conversations about real issues others aren’t talking about.

What am I getting at?

The more I truth it the fewer likes my LinkedIn posts get (terribly upsetting, but I’ll live), however, the more DM’s I receive. Lawyers are intrigued, however they are less than keen on publicly taking a position, perhaps out of fear their career will get whacked, clipped or something equally sinister. This a highly unlikely outcome, perhaps the real reason they are publicly silent is the culture of silence within the profession.

Omerta, particularly within law firms, has allowed bad behaviour (and occasional criminality) to thrive over the years. Lawyers don’t speak up nearly enough, they don’t share their opinions publicly nearly enough, they don’t have the hard discussions that they really should be having openly about their industry nearly enough.

It’s easy to like the friend that tells you, you look great when you look hideous, tells you, you were right when you were wrong. It’s hard to be the friend that tells you the truth and even harder to like them!

Perhaps silence is right for the individual lawyer, however it’s undoubtedly bad for the profession. Whenever I see a lawyer post something on LinkedIn beyond moving jobs, when they take a position on something, I try to support it, I support lawyers becoming more vocal on all public forums. This is what we need in the industry, this is how it can grow in a healthy way, how it can get better, silence just keeps it stuck in the same narrative loop!

Ken Collins, is a recruiter with over a decade of executive search experience, specialising in senior legal and compliance hires across EMEA and the USA.