Identifying and Managing High Conflict Personality Clients

Dealing with a difficult client?

Overview  Personality types and difficult personalities  Approaches to better manage difficult personality types  Other factors and enablers of destructive behaviour  How to get the best results  Building a case to end a client relationship

What is a personality? Each individual person is characterised by a particular combination of emotional responses, behaviours, thought patters and traits that make up their personality.  starts to develop early on  remains remarkably consistent throughout life  can change after a specific experience in the person’s life

Personality types  Personality type theories Type A vs Type B Extravert vs Introvert Sensation/Intuition vs Thinking/Feeling Alpha vs Beta vs Gamma Courteous vs Invective vs Rational  Personality tests A person’s personality type will dominate their individual speech, thoughts, mood, feelings and behaviour.

Difficult personalities  Unrealistic and unreasonable expectations  Excessive time telephoning or ing  Blaming others for their legal problem  Demanding lawyer does what they want  Criticising lawyer and lodging complaints  Changing lawyers and not paying bills  Paranoid, aggressive or threatening  Personality disorders

Approaches to better manage difficult personality types Immediate response may be to:  Tell the client to go somewhere else  Compete with the client  Accommodate the client  Compromise, collaborate and communicate

Effective communication  Active listening  Assertiveness  Empathetic understanding Being assertive, communicating respect, and avoiding retaliation will prevent any conflict between the lawyer and the difficult client from escalating.

High conflict clients - strategies  Advise which expectations can be met  Provide structure  Remind what is relevant and bill for time  Show respect even if frustrated  Set boundaries on behaviour  “One minute scold”  Clear client service agreement  Educate staff on policies  Refer client to counsellor/psychologist

Strategies for other clients DemandingAntagonistic PessimisticComplaining AggressiveThreatening Clients with personality disorders  Borderline  Histrionic  Narcissistic  Antisocial

Other factors and enablers of destructive behaviour “Negative advocate”  Generally family member or close friend  Actively or passively supporting behaviour  Excessive participation in conferences  Motivated by fear or dependence  Could be a lawyer  Similar strategies e.g. reality testing

How to get the best result  What is my personality type?  What is my client’s personality type?  Are there other causes e.g. personality disorder or mental health disorder?  Is there an enabler?  What are my client’s specific behaviours?  What strategies are recommended for this? Communicate, never retaliate.

Building a case to end a client relationship  Terminating retainer may be necessary  Develop internal policies  Implement appropriate strategies  Educate staff  Debrief  Persevere Effectively managing a difficult client may lead to an excellent result and future referrals.

Difficult client = stress

Succeed in managing a difficult client!

Conclusion Lawyers solve problems but solving a problem sometimes requires more than knowing the law. Draw on the recommendations of mental health professionals when dealing with high conflict personality clients. Grace Lawson November 2015 ©Grace Lawson, 2015 Liability limited by a scheme approved under professional standards legislation