In court, as lawyers, we fight with words, using law books as shields and precedents as swords. But what happens when the dust of the legal battle settles? Who cares for the wounds that are not visible to the naked eye? This story is about a client whose life changed the moment, faced with a sweeping conflict, he turned left where he could have turned right.
The client came to me for an employment case that was legally intriguing: can an alcohol addiction, which led this man to the abyss, be seen as an illness providing dismissal protection? Legally a fascinating issue, and in the end I was able to settle the case successfully. But behind the legal victory was a personal tragedy that touched me.
The client, a man whose life was once full of promise, told me his story. How a divorce from the love of his life drove him to drink; As he walked out of his divorce lawyer's office, he spontaneously chose to turn right for the pub instead of turning left on the road to his new home.
As he spoke, I realised that his previous lawyer had done everything correctly legally during the divorce proceedings, but had completely failed to guide him through the emotional hell of that process. It was a turning point, where I decided that as far as I am concerned, advocacy is not just about winning cases, but at the same time about guiding clients through their most difficult moments. That real success is not only measured by the legal outcome of a case, but also by how we help our clients resume their lives with human attention.
I realised I wanted to be not only a legal litigator and adviser, but also someone who guides clients through the emotional labyrinth of conflicts. Because conflicts are usually by no means just legal in nature; they are steeped in emotions, fears, and unspoken pain. It is in focusing on these emotional aspects where we as lawyers can make the big difference. It is not just about whether you come out of a conflict as a winner or loser, but how you come out of it.
This story is a plea for a legal profession that embraces emotional intelligence; that recognises that behind every case is a human being with a story, with pain and with hope. A legal profession that not only pursues legal victories, but also pays attention to its clients' invisible wounds.
As lawyers, let us not forget that while fighting for our clients' interests, we are also attentive to their mental state. Plea won, patient died is not an outcome we want to pursue. Strive instead for plea won, client in his power. This is how we win not only legal battles, but more importantly the hearts and souls of the people we represent.