Organizational Leadership Skills

Why is positivity important for attorneys?

Lawyers leading trial teams must use positivity, so they don’t negatively affect their performance or the performance of their team. Positivity involves using encouragement, positive reinforcement, and respect. My time in Mock Trial helped me become more positive during times of stress. Often rounds can be very stressful, so during breaks I would often compliment members on their strengths and offer words of encouragement. I believe this positivity made the team more receptive to constructive comments after the round and contributed to the confidence and success of our team.

Why is feedback relevant to the legal community?

Feedback allows attorneys to improve their advocacy skills and develop better trial techniques by highlighting skills, such as body language or movement, that the attorney does well and things the attorney can improve. Additionally, it is vital to leadership because it fosters improvement by laying out clear expectations, being willing to receive feedback, and building confidence in participants. By participating in Student Panels through the Aggie Orientation Leader Program during New Student Conferences at Texas A&M, I was able to practice giving and receiving feedback. After panels, we would provide feedback to one another to help improve our presentation skills. Constructive feedback I have received has improved how I answer questions and how I professionally present my answers on stage. We attribute much of the success of our panels to the constructive feedback we received immediately following our panel discussions.

Why is it important for attorneys to build relationships?

Two reasons attorneys need to build relationships include 1) Attorneys must work to build relationships with their clients so that they can better represent their clients in court. 2) Attorneys must work to build relationships with juries to help convince them to side with their clients. Building relationships involves learning about people and developing trust, which I practiced while founding a Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) chapter, a competition-based business organization, at A&M. During the founding process, I built relationships with my co-founders and developed trust by asking questions to get to know them, actively listening to them, and opening up about things in my life. I believe that these strong relationships helped create a more influential organization.