Module 5

Bad news to clients, families and others: lost cases, cost, no, bereavement and crisis

The method of the first four modules is general: prepare, say it soon, plainly, humanely and with a next step, and stay steady through the reaction. But the situations lawyers meet are very different, and the method needs adapting. A client who has lost a commercial case is not like a widow told that a will is invalid, or a parent told that a child will not be returned home, or a defendant told that a custodial sentence is likely. A client told ‘no’ because their plan is unlawful needs something different from a client told that costs will triple. This module takes the most common situations in turn and says what changes: what to emphasise, what to avoid, what to check and what the listener most needs. It also covers conversations with several people at once, with people in crisis and with opponents and witnesses. It builds on The Client Conversation. All the people are invented, and nothing here is advice on any matter or any country’s rules.

General education on giving bad news and handling difficult conversations, using invented people, firms and matters. It is not legal advice, and it does not state the professional rules, employment law or insurance requirements of any country. Those differ and change: check the rules that apply to you and take advice.