Treating Clients with Courtesy and Respect

Code 3 of the SRA Regulations and Standards specifies that legal representatives must ensure that instructions come only from the client or somebody the client has authorised to give instructions on their behalf (3.1).

4.2.1 Promote Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Advocates should ensure that at all times they act in a way to encourage equality, diversity and inclusion and compliance with the Equality Act 2010. This means an advocate should not discriminate in their treatment of clients, staff and third parties based on their age, sex, disability, race, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status and pregnancy and maternity (these are known as ‘protected characteristics’).

As we have seen in Chapter 1, equality, diversity and inclusion are part of the ethical behaviours that are expected from a legal professional under the mandatory SRA Principals (Principal 6). The SRA Statement of Solicitor Competence also requires that solicitors should respect diversity and act “fairly and inclusively” (A1e). It is also important to remember that a client may have an unseen disability such as a learning difficulty or may be ‘neurodiverse’ (variations in the brain leading to different social responses).

Discrimination based on race or ethnicity must also be avoided. Statistical evidence such as the Equalities and Human Rights Commission Review (2018) and the Lammy Review (2017) suggests that those from an ethnic minority background can experi­ence discrimination both within the workplace and within the criminal justice system.

An advocate can ensure inclusive practices by providing access to justice for all the clients that they represent as well as providing a non-discriminatory service to all including groups who may be at risk of marginalisation (recognised as those from the list of protected characteristics under the 2010 Act). It is important not to be judgmental or biased when dealing with clients. Any preconceived ideas or beliefs about the client, for example, their characteristics, religious beliefs or life choices, must be put to one side. An advocate will instead view the situation from the client's perspective whilst also examining any possible positions that might be adopted by an opponent.

The Law Society also has a Diversity and Inclusion Charter and legal practices are invited to sign up to the Charter to recognise the value of diversity and to promote equality, diversity and inclusion throughout their business in order to help improve social mobility for those from less disadvantaged backgrounds.

Advocates have an important leadership role to play in ensuring that justice is served regardless of disability, race or ethnic background of clients, witnesses and other pro­fessionals that an advocate comes into contact with as part of their practice.

4.2.2 Building Trust and Empathy

In Chapter 2, we looked at how to obtain relevant facts from a client during an initial interview. One way to ensure that you can ascertain the client's goals and objectives is to use a combination of questioning methods (both open and closed questioning) and active listening. However, questioning and listening is only one part of the com­munication process.

A client will need reassurance at each stage of the legal process as litigation can be long and costly. You need to ensure that you maintain regular contact with the client and periodically check that you are on track to meet their aims and objectives. If you consider that it is necessary for the client to re-think their goals, then it is important that you involve the client in these discussions and you provide reasoned and sup­ported arguments as to why a change is necessary. However, ultimately it is for the client, and not you, to make the final decision about outcomes.

Trust comes from your treatment of the client and how well you manage their case. It may be that the client's case involves urgent work such as applying for bail in the criminal courts (to allow a defendant to be released from prison pending trial) or applying for an emergency injunction in the civil courts. Emergency work should still be carried out with the same degree of care and consultation with the client.

4.2.3 Handling Sensitive Situations

Sometimes, the client's story may be a hard one to hear because it involves, for example, testimony about violence.

Where a client is upset or emotional, any responses should be carefully thought through, consider the message you want to convey and how this is likely to be heard or interpreted by a distressed client. You can diffuse tense, emotional or awkward moments by, for example, asking the client if they would like a break, pausing to allow the client to compose themselves, offering the client tea or coffee or offering a distressed client a box of tissues. Alternatively moving your questioning on to a new topic and only returning to the earlier topic once the client has indicated they are ready to continue with the discussions may also help to alleviate a client's distress or discomfort.

You may need to be mindful of differences in culture or attitudes or any unseen dis­abilities (e.g. learning difficulties) that your client may have. However, you must also aim to treat clients as equals and show them respect and avoid patronising them. You can check at each stage that the client has understood your advice or the informa­tion that you are giving and simplify your explanations if you need to, for example, because the client states that they have not understood your earlier explanations.