Image generated by Stable Diffusion XL 1.0 (not quite perfect yet. See the 6 fingers!)
This post is inspired by a LinkedIn post I read from Sales Tip titled ‘You are not selling a product. You are selling a feeling’. So, I reflected on what do barristers “sell” or a better way saying it - what do barristers “provide” to their clients?
Big brands like Apple, Nike, McDonald all have one thing in common, they are at the top of their business because they sell emotional benefits - not tangible products, features, not specifications, not services. This reminded me of my favourite marketing guru - Clotaire Rapaille - who spent years breaking the marketing code, for example how to sell coffee to a green tea drinking country like Japan?
If you need a one sentence line, this could be it - “Barristers provide confidence to clients in their legal dispute".
The essence of professional advocacy is to deliver confidence and assurance to clients who are navigating complex, stressful, and often life changing legal situations, not merely providing legal advice and advocacy representation.
Clients engage barristers because they need someone who can stand between them and a threatening legal situation. The barrister becomes a shield, absorbing the blows by offering protection through expertise and advocacy skills that the client lacks.
In a legal system filled with tradition, courtroom decorum, wigs and gowns, complexity and jargon, barristers provide their clients the ability to make sense of chaos. They transform overwhelming legal problems into understandable pathways forward, reducing anxiety through their barristers’ specialist knowledge and experience.
Barristers also provide emotional distance from highly charged situations. Their independencfe allows them to ask difficult questions and deliver hard truths that solicitors, who are managing their client’s expectations, might struggle to communicate.
The key to successfully delivering beyond technical legal competence is to be able to articulate the client’s position clearly, concisely, and convincingly. This involves not just crafting legal argumentation but emotional translation by converting a client’s chaotic and jumbled narrative, often providing instructions under great stress, into a compelling story or case theory that resonates with the judges.
Clients should think of their barristers as strategists and tacticians who have wide networks and professional relationships cultivated over their long career. Such are the skills that represent significant value to clients who do not know where to turn to or who to approach to resolve their legal matters.
There is also a psychological dimension to the work that barristers do. They ultimately provide a kind of “psychological relief” by helping clients navigate their difficult situations, and tempering expectations while providing realistic assessment of possible outcomes. It is really a form of “counselling” to address the emotional needs of clients facing legal challenges.
Barristers are also constantly under pressure and stress. Experience enables barristers to maintain their professional demeanour and conduct in court even when faced with a hostile bench, difficult opponents especially self-represented parties, or challenging clients. Such emotional stability is itselft a service that clients value.
When barristers take on a client’s case, they implicitly acknowledge the legitimacy of their client’s concerns and legal position. This can provide the emotional relieft to those who feel wronged or threatened.
Next time when you engage a barrister for any kind of work, remember that they provide emotional stability in unstable situations, clarity in confusion and chaos, and confidence in the face of uncertainty, making their true service far more valuable than mere legal advice and advocacy in the courtroom (which is a given in most cases).