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[00:00:11] Scott Benton: Hey everyone, Scott Benton here. How are you? I am the host of the Classroom 2 Courtroom podcast where we help you easily transition from law school student into your professional career as an attorney and where we make the practice of law fun. Now today we’re going to talk about being right.
[00:00:27] Scott Benton: Sometimes it doesn’t always pay to be right. Sometimes there’s a little problem with going into a situation determined to be right and it might not always be the best strategy given the environment that you’re in. So we’re going to take a quick look at the problem. With always being right.
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[00:01:31] Scott Benton: Let’s say you’ve already started your career as an attorney at your first law firm and you’ve got cases you’re handling and clients that they’re depending on you to help them achieve their legal goals.
[00:01:41] Scott Benton: It took a lot for you to get here. Let’s be honest, you did really well in high school. Probably you excelled in your undergraduate studies and you crushed it in law school. You maybe even passed the bar on the first try and you’ve been able to accomplish all of that. because you’ve made correct decisions at almost every turn along the [00:02:00] way.
[00:02:00] Scott Benton: Now you made a lot of sacrifices to get through all those many countless hours of studies and exams and all kinds of stuff that you had to do, books you had to read, and for years you gave up socializing and vacations and travel opportunities and whatever else came along that you would otherwise have liked to do, but it would have taken you away from your studies.
[00:02:22] Scott Benton: So by now you have so much information in your head that whenever you get into your casework or whenever you’re talking to a client or an opposing counsel, or maybe even during just, hearing, you are drawing on your vast wealth of knowledge to come up with the most accurate and correct answers for whatever questions or obstacles you’re facing.
[00:02:43] Scott Benton: And at the end of the day, you’re using everything that you’ve got to be right. And you might be right, I don’t know, but I do know this, that there is a potential liability that almost always comes along if your objective is to be right, that you might want to be [00:03:00] aware of. Now you need to make sure that whether you’re right or wrong, that you are effective.
[00:03:06] Scott Benton: Which is even more important than being right or wrong, being effective. In other words, it does no good to be right all the time if you’re ineffective. So we need to be able to make that distinction, especially if you’re working with your client. Now, if you’re the smartest person on the entire planet and yet no one listens to anything you have to say, then does it really matter that you’re the smartest person on the planet?
[00:03:32] Scott Benton: I mean it might matter to you and maybe to your parents, but unless you are your own client and unless you are paying for your own legal services, as far as the business of law goes, you’re failing at generating revenue, let alone generating a profit, which is what any business is primarily concerned with.
[00:03:50] Scott Benton: That’s what they’re here to accomplish. A business is in business to generate a profit. So it becomes really important to make that distinction [00:04:00] between being right And you want to work that question out in your mind whenever you have a reason to make that decision.
[00:04:07] Scott Benton: And it’s going to be a fine line. So it might take a while before you’re able to navigate this crossroads skillfully when you get to it. It’s really not something you normally pick up right away, but you can become more aware of it while you’re interacting with people. Now, on a side related note, which Also is a topic that comes up from time to time on this podcast.
[00:04:27] Scott Benton: There’s a more nuanced aspect to consider when it comes to the question of being right versus being effective. And that has more to do with the idea of just simply brightening up spaces. Now spaces, what I mean by that is it could be like a physical conference room or it could even be a courtroom or you can even get into online spaces like Zoom calls or really even talking to somebody on the telephone.
[00:04:51] Scott Benton: But whatever space you show up in, you want to make sure that you’re brightening up that space. So when people see you [00:05:00] approaching or they see you showing up in a room for the first time. You want those people to really feel good about your presence as if you’re providing a burst of just much needed energy to everyone and not sucking all the oxygen out of the room because you’ve been around people that have done that, right?
[00:05:16] Scott Benton: They just, all they have to do is show up and their mere presence, it’s just suddenly you feel like there’s no oxygen in the room. You don’t want to be that person. So when you show up and you have a presence about you that regardless of what happens, you’re going to be right. You’re just going to be right, then typically you’re violating the rule of brightening up a space.
[00:05:37] Scott Benton: As an attorney, you’re looking for solutions to cases and your ability to connect with people such as your clients or court personnel or even the opposing party. It’s going to become a critical skill for you to master. Showing up with this need to always be right is more likely going to work against you than it’s going to help.
[00:05:59] Scott Benton: So [00:06:00] showing up with an attitude of effectiveness not only brightens up the space that you’re in, but you’re also going to get a lot more out of the people that you’re working with, which includes your clients. Ultimately, the problem with always being right is that, you’re potentially a lot less effective than you otherwise could be. And when you’re more effective, that’s when you get better and more high quality information about the case from your client that is just ultimately going to fill up your to do list.
[00:06:29] Scott Benton: And it’s going to keep the flow of your legal services efficient and strong at all times. And that’s going to help elevate your career and sharpen your skill sets faster than just about anything else.
[00:06:41] Scott Benton: So I hope that’s been helpful. My name is Scott Benton. I’m the host of the Classroom 2 Courtroom podcast. Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode. Now if this podcast is material that you like and you want to get notified whenever we post a new episode, you can go to our website. Our website is classroom2courtroom.
[00:06:57] Scott Benton: com. That’s classroom, the number two, courtroom. [00:07:00] com. You can leave us your contact information. We’ll send you an email anytime we post a new episode. You can also stay on top of all of our new episodes by sharing, liking, and subscribing wherever you find this podcast. And until the next episode, we hope you’ll join us in making the world a better place, one client at a time
[00:07:18] Scott Benton: thank you so much
