It is not easy to open a consultant's point. It should be said that most lawyers have a good service attitude and can treat them correctly. However, in practice, the service attitude has also been discounted. It is prone to the situation of "tightening first and then loosening", that is, being proactive in the early stage and "leaving as if nothing has happened"; In the medium term, it is passive, "don't go if you have nothing to do" or "go if you have something to do", regardless of whether you ask or not, and even "don't go if you have something to do" in extreme cases; In the later period, when the contract is about to be renewed, there will be "nothing to do". Form a passive situation of "big at both ends and small in the middle". In the long run, it will only make our own road narrower and narrower, so we should take a warning.
In practice, there are two extremes in service attitude. One is to attach too much importance to consulting units, and the other is to despise consulting units. The former is, of course, a large consulting unit, regardless of size; Moreover, the attitude is too respectful and careful, and every little thing is very important. We always have meetings and do research. The latter, of course, is a small customer, who thinks it is unnecessary and takes it lightly to muddle along. The author believes that we should respect all consulting units, regardless of size, they are our customers. However, it is difficult to be modest, because the service fees given by big customers are many, and losing big customers will lead to more personal interests. How to weigh it is worth pondering.
Second, the cooperation of lawyers.
Non-litigation needs cooperation more than litigation. The reason is that when the number of consulting units is large, the time and energy of a single lawyer is limited, especially the cooperation of lawyers is needed. Sometimes the consulting unit is professional and does not have relevant professional knowledge, so it also needs the cooperation of lawyers.
Some lawyers have suggested that the cooperation of lawyers must be based on "needs". That's true. The cooperation between network resources and professional knowledge (professional ability) is the best way of cooperation. In the initial stage of cooperation, everyone can do it. Cooperation for a long time, the original passion has faded, and a system is needed to bind each other. Otherwise, your mind will be unbalanced. In this dilemma, if both sides can realize the seriousness of the problem and improve it, the cooperation between the two sides will enter a higher level; On the contrary, if we can't face up to the problem, cooperation will become a mere formality and even lead to the breakdown of cooperation.
Third, the accumulation of professional knowledge and social experience
Lawyers are saints. Non-litigation requires lawyers to have professional legal knowledge and related industry knowledge. You have been a legal consultant for a long time, and you will find that you use less legal knowledge and more professional knowledge when dealing with problems; Less theoretical knowledge and more practical experience; Less professional knowledge and more social experience. In addition, you feel that you know less and less, and sometimes you have a sense of panic, and even doubt whether you can continue to provide services for consulting units, resulting in lack of confidence. To some extent, this is a good thing, which can urge you to keep learning and improving.
Professional knowledge is accumulated in leisure time and used in busy time. Some people say that your interest in reading in your spare time determines your future development direction. Indeed, you study the knowledge of corporate mergers and acquisitions in your spare time, which means that your development direction will definitely not be the handling of marriage and family disputes.
Pay attention everywhere. Pay attention to your partners and the bosses of the enterprises you serve, and make progress with them. When you first entered the law firm, your professional knowledge was not much different from your "same year", but after a year or two, the gap between you gradually emerged. After three or five years, your professional knowledge may not be at the same level. If you find that what you said was a year or two ago, or even half a year ago, then you may be behind; If you find a few "new words" popping up in your partner's mouth from time to time, which are unheard of or never studied in depth, then you need to reflect on yourself and look up to your partner.
Grow with the enterprise. Most of the executives you serve are at the forefront of economic development. They will encounter many novel and strange problems, and solving these problems with them is also an excellent opportunity for lawyers to improve themselves. The consulting unit gives lawyers opportunities to learn and pays consulting fees for lawyers. We should thank the consulting unit for giving us this opportunity.
The boss of an enterprise always has something extraordinary. Paying attention to their talents is of great benefit to our lawyer's career and our life. Teaching by example is not as good as teaching by example, especially their style of dealing with difficult problems, which will inevitably have such an impact on us, and this is how our ability is improved.
Fourth, matters needing attention
1, keep the business secrets of consulting units, especially those of listed companies. Sometimes, in order to show their strength, they will say what another consultant is like in front of one consultant. Unintentionally speaking, intentionally listening, may reveal some business secrets. In addition, they will worry that you will not disclose their business secrets in other consulting units, so when discussing confidential matters, they may hide something from you or refuse your participation, which makes you embarrassed.
Listed companies have a lot of inside information, and lawyers are insiders of inside information. We must pay attention to our words and deeds in foreign exchanges. If someone asks, your answers can only be "I'm not sure" and "I haven't heard of it", and you must never inadvertently disclose these inside information for show-off or other purposes. Sometimes lawyers go to the relevant departments to check files or consult related matters, and will ask you the purpose of use. At this time, they can only answer "the need of economic exchange" and can't tell specific matters. This is not only the embodiment of lawyer's practice experience, but also the concrete expression of lawyer's professional ethics and practice discipline in practice.
2. If you are unfamiliar with the field, honestly say "I don't know" or "I don't know much" and reply after you know it. Never talk nonsense or pretend to understand in order to show your erudition, especially when it comes to professional problems in the financial fields such as banking, insurance and securities, and you need to be cautious. Correctness is a fluke; If the answer is wrong, it will not only affect the lawyer's professional reputation, but also cause great economic losses to the consulting unit, which may not be recovered by saying "sorry".
3, reasonable arrangement of time, improve efficiency. When the number of consulting units is large, it is even more necessary to improve efficiency. Problems that can be dealt with at that time should be dealt with at that time and cannot be delayed. Good habits will do you a lot of good. Sometimes, when you have a meeting or business trip in one consulting unit, you will be told that another consulting unit or units need to deal with problems. How to arrange your time and work reasonably tests your wisdom. This situation often occurs in several consulting units of the author: either nothing happened or something happened, which caught me off guard. Later, I intervened in time, intervened in advance, dispersed the time and won the initiative for myself.
4. Take the initiative to give less warning to the consulting unit. Many times, including the author, the consulting unit calls us for something, and we only respond passively, and rarely do things that are "nothing to look for". There are many reasons for this. First, there are too many lawyer affairs to take the initiative to ask questions. Second, other consulting units may not be suitable for another consulting unit, so there is no need to take the initiative to warn; Third, lawyers have insufficient experience in related fields and cannot be forewarned. But in either case, only by serving attentively can we find some early warning information. "Seriously" can do things right, and "attentively" can do things well. Every consulting unit deserves our attention.
5. Communicate more and summarize more. When the business develops to a certain stage, it will encounter bottlenecks, and the process of constantly breaking through bottlenecks is also a process of constantly improving itself, and the breakthrough of bottlenecks requires communication and summary. Communicate with people who have experience in related fields, rather than standing still. Communication is two-way, and it can't be your unilateral speech. Of course, there are many reasons for making unilateral statements. First, the other party doesn't want to communicate, for fear of losing experience when communicating; Second, the other party is inexperienced or inexperienced and can only listen to you. When communicating, there will be a lot of information overlapping, but even if there is a sentence that inspires you, then this kind of communication is worthwhile.
6. Not all problems can be solved by law; Not all problems can be handled by lawyers. At the beginning of being a legal consultant, we should instill such thoughts in the consulting unit. Many consulting units believe that all disputes should be handled by lawyers, but some disputes are not disputes in essence, but coordination. If you handle these things well, of course, everyone is happy; If it is not handled properly, it will reduce your future renewal and even lead to the failure of renewal. The author once suffered a big loss and lost a consulting unit.
7. Stand in a fair position. Law is a superstructure, representing the interests of a certain class or stratum. When shareholders have different opinions or even differences, when you are invited to handle the disputes between them, you must stand in a just or legal position, and your words and deeds must have a legal basis; If there is no legal basis, you should tell them the handling methods or practices in practice and don't involve yourself in disputes between shareholders. There is also a lot of knowledge in it.
In addition, when shareholders hold a shareholders' meeting or a board meeting, you'd better ask in advance whether you need a lawyer to avoid it, because when you meet, sometimes the argument will be fierce and the ugliest side of human nature will inevitably be exposed. Lawyers must not enter such a place! Otherwise, your role will embarrass you on this occasion. Timely withdrawal is also the embodiment of lawyers' social experience.
8, strengthen exercise, otherwise the body can't eat. There are more consulting units, and there will be more things. Overtime is a common occurrence. If you don't exercise well, there will be a strange phenomenon of "catching a cold if you work overtime". Some lawyers will work overtime with excessive intensity and even have serious consequences of "cerebral spasm", which requires intravenous drip. The lawyer's business itself is a high-intensity mental work, which requires a lawyer to have a strong body.