2.1  Identifying and understanding client emotions

I think without going into the academics of emotional intelligence, I think for me, what it means is people relations, I guess, is what I would suggest. It's that kind of social skill, in terms of dealing with people.

What do I mean by that? So for example, I think, empathy, so understanding where that we are all humans, we all have feelings, and that we all come from different perspectives and we all might react in different ways, so we need to understand that. And we also need to adapt the way that we deal with people in a different way, depending on their character, their skills, and recognising what their feelings may be at that point in time, and not to dismiss those feelings. You take them on board and you try and adapt to it.

So the client getting upset and crying is part of immigration law practice, whether it be when you tell them your fee, or whether you tell them what the Home Office fee is, or whether you tell them you were unsuccessful, because Home Office made this error. We have to take more steps to resolve their problem. They have to be financially prepared. They have to be physically, emotionally prepared.

So, of course, they tend to break down from now and then. And my job there is look, to tell them, don't get upset. You have xyz time to think about it. There's no pressure. Communicate with them how much time they have within which they need to make a decision.

I've conducted conferences with clients with excrement smeared up the walls because I've gone down to the cells. There's no conference room available. You're told, well, you can wait half an hour, or you can go into your client's cell with them. And you go into the cell. The door is locked. And you sit there and have a conference with your client. You have to do that because the judge has made it clear you've only got 10 minutes and you've got to be back up in court.

And so you make these, it's a process of always making these little decisions. And I think criminal barristers often take it on themselves to do the thing that makes life easier for everyone else, for the judge, for your client, for your lay client, for your professional client, for your clerks.

If your clerks call with another case, and they say, can you take this case on, you want to help out. You want to be seen as someone who's a high achiever, who has a can-do attitude, who can take anything that's thrown at them. And you do have to be like that to do the job. And there's a great sense of satisfaction that you get from getting to the end of that day having handled a load of cases and done them well and done a good job for your clients.

But on the other hand, it's extremely difficult to say no. And that has a very detrimental, long term, those little decisions, those little choices you make has a really significant impact on wellbeing.