Personal Diplomacy and Its Function as a Tool for Strategic Lawyering

The art of personal diplomacy is to discover common ground as quickly as a lawyer can create a sense of relaxation and understanding in legal atmosphere. The legal atmosphere includes trail sessions, negotiation meetings and different kinds of business in law. Without any doubt, these debates are important to work professionally. However, they are certainly not as important as those who are able to work together, to collaborate or to share sympathy. In my opinion, lawyers must learn to have a better relationship if they do not have a hard heart. This article takes the necessity of the application of personal diplomacy in law into account.

            Literature review gives readers a vast data and knowledge containing the art of personal diplomacy in different branches of human sciences. Especially, foreign diplomacy and international law need this skill as a formidable tool to shape foreseen targets. This art has challenged business and marketing as well. Since 1986, when the lawyers’ world has been involved with a new revolution from traditional structures into postmodernism in law, the usage of personal capacities in lawyering has been raised in law societies and bar associations. Consequently, faculties and research centers are struggling to create new literature for personal diplomacy in law. But it is not possible as easily as they have predicted. Because some elements of corruption in law, specially between barristers and judges or even juris forbid them from expanding its concept and applying it as a new tool using in courts.

Generally, it is not acceptable to make a relationship with the judges out of official protocols. Law students were studying law shoulder by shoulder. When they graduated, they chose their future jobs, “Lawyer”, “Barrister”, “Solicitor”, “General prosecutor” or “judge”. They are likely to stand in different positions in a court trial. It is absolutely possible. They were travelling, getting together, studying, doing sports or being friends. It is not expected fairly to hide all student memories. Also, they were exercising other events out of their universities. It is possible they have a family relationship as well. Hence, the question is about how to manage this situation. This is a skill defined under title of “Personal Diplomacy”. It is certainly different with corruption.

To explain about how important it is, criminal cases capture attention into punishment determined by the judges who are eligible to decide about the number of years or kinds of sentences. For example, a man is supposed to be convicted for theft. His lawyer is negotiating with the judge about real life situation of his client.

He wants to talk about his client’s shortcomings in his real life. The lawyer does not seek to justify the criminal behavior, while he wants to convince the judge to give a lesser sentence to his client by describing his situation in the accused’s real life circumstances including his family situation, children, occupation and even his background and clearance. The necessity for making a relationship assisting lawyers with creating and managing an effective and succinct dialogue is to walk in a sensitive path facilitating this relationship. If they have a good sense about each other, they are likely to be much more successful to exchange ideas and focal points presenting the situation as clear as it is.  In addition, judges are authorized to make a deal with parties in civil courts about the destination of a judicial case. In Iran, for example, it is obligatory to advise other parties to settle their disputes in or out of the courts. In such a situation, a highly skilled lawyer can play a vital role to use personal diplomacy applied for judges or counterparts.

In sum, various samples and cases are to justify how important “personal diplomacy’ is to manage clients’ benefits in both civil and criminal cases. It does not mean to follow moral or financial corruption. All persons engaged in a court session are human and live or even work with their senses and emotions. “Personal diplomacy” assists lawyers and judges to clarify the image of cases as well as they deserve it. It is a new skill highly recommending that students and lawyers necessarily should experience and exercise it in law faculties and bar associations.