The Lawyering Method describes practice as making hard choices between what is proper and what is effective; between what is wanted and what can and should be; between chasing truth and chasing success; and between self-interest and the common good. It then provides tools and procedures for making these choices expertly and responsibly.
Setting Goals
The goals of a legal project are constantly shaped and reshaped in light of changing conditions and competing considerations. Lawyers must hear or propose explicit goals, identify implicit goals, and balance both against judgments about the client/beneficiary’s interests and judgments about competing interests.
Interpreting Facts
Lawyers discover and interpret facts. In doing so, lawyers are obliged to be truthful and responsible, but simultaneously obliged to serve client interests faithfully. This is not a simple matter, for facts are rarely certain and always subject to varying interpretations. There is often tension between the quest to discover truth as nearly as one can and the quest to succeed on a client’s behalf.
Interpreting Rules
Lawyers also find and interpret rules. In this, too, there is an obligation both to be responsibly truthful and to serve client interests faithfully. But choosing among possibly applicable rules and interpreting those often ambiguous rules is no simpler than finding and interpreting facts. It requires negotiating tensions between the quest for a proper or just result and the quest to prevail.
Managing Interactions
Lawyers interact in a variety of formal and informal settings. In courtrooms, in offices, at bargaining tables, in legislative chambers, online, and on the phone, they communicate with clients, counterparties, witnesses, and various kinds of decisionmakers. This requires understanding the rules and expectations of each forum and understanding how those rules and expectations might vary with personalities and circumstances. It then requires managing each interaction strategically to further institutional or client goals without being wrongfully deceptive or inappropriately manipulative.