QUALITIES/SKILLS

Communication Skills

Effective counselors should have excellent communication skills. Although some of these skills can be
honed during graduate school and are developed and refined over the course of your career, you should
already possess certain communication skills before embarking on a counseling career. Counselors need
to have a natural ability to listen and be able clearly explain their ideas and thoughts to others.

Acceptance

Being nonjudgmental and accepting are important attributes in any of the helping professions. But
professional counselors must be able to "start where the client is at." This phrase is often used in
counseling to describe the ability to relate to clients with an open, nonjudgmental attitude -- accepting
the client for who she is and in her current situation. Counselors need to be able to convey acceptance to
their clients with warmth and understanding.

Empathy

Counselors help people through some of the most difficult and stressful times of their lives. They must
be able to display empathy -- the ability to feel what another person is feeling. Empathy means that you
are truly able to imagine what it's like to stand in someone else's shoes. Compassion and empathy help
your clients feel understood and heard.

Problem-Solving Skills

It's not up to a counselor to solve her clients' problems, no matter how much she might want to help. But
counselors must have excellent problem-solving skills to be able to help their clients identify and make
changes to negative thought patterns and other harmful behaviors that might be contributing to their
issues, says Dr. Lynn Ponton in an article for PsychCentral.

Rapport-Building Skills

Counselors must possess a strong set of interpersonal skills to help establish rapport quickly with
clients and develop strong relationships. They must give their undivided attention to clients and be able
to cultivate trust. Counselors need to be able to place all of their focus on what their clients are saying
and avoid being distracted by their own personal problems or concerns when they are in a session.

Flexibility

Flexibility in counseling is defined as the ability to adapt and change the way you respond to meet your
clients' needs. You don't stay rigid and stick to a predetermined treatment path when your clients
require a different approach. Being flexible is one of the most important attributes of a professional
counselor, says Gerald Juhnke, professor of counseling at the University of Texas at San Antonio, in an
interview with "Counseling Today."

Self-Awareness

Self-awareness is the ability to look within and identify your own unmet psychological needs and
desires, such as a need for intimacy or the desire to be professionally competent. This ability prevents
your issues from affecting or conflicting with those of your clients. Self-awareness has a major impact on
a counselor's effectiveness, says professor David Hutchinson in his book, "The Essential Counselor."

Multicultural Competency

Counselors help people from all walks of life. They must display multicultural competency and adopt a
multicultural worldview, says Hutchinson. Multicultural competency means that you try to relate to and
understand your clients regardless of their race, ethnicity, religious or political beliefs or socioeconomic
background.

Counsel
An attorney or lawyer. The rendition of advice and guidance concerning a legal matter, contemplated form
of argument,claim, or action.The terms counsel and advise are frequently employed as synonyms for the
term aid and abet to describe aperson who, while not actually performing a criminal act, induced its perfor
mance or contributed to it.
The term junior counsel refers to the younger member of the team of attorneys retained on the same side
of a case, or theone lower in the hierarchy of the firm, or one who is assigned to the preparation or trial of
less significant aspects of the case.
The term of counsel refers to the description given to an attorney who is not the principal lawyer in charge
of a case but whomerely contributes his advice on the way it should be handled.
Where of counsel follows an attorney's name on a letterhead or office sign, this designation indicates that
the person isemployed by the firm primarily as a consultant on specialized matters, not as a full-
time partner or associate.

The Role of the Lawyer A lawyer is sometimes referred to as an attorney at law or a counselor. This is a
person who has spent many years learning about the law and has obtained a license to practice law. As
an officer of the court, it is the lawyer's responsibility to establish a relationship of trust and confidence
with their client and represent the client to the best of the lawyer's ability. Why are lawyers needed?
The answer may be easier to understand if one considers the many roles of the lawyer. A lawyer can be
thought of as a spokesperson hired to speak for a client to settle a conflict. A lawyer can often
communicate more effectively than the client because the lawyer is not emotionally involved in the
dispute and has been trained to look for ways to settle a dispute by using the legal knowledge he or she
has gained. The lawyer's main responsibility and challenge is to their client. The lawyer must sometimes
play the role of an adversary. The lawyer's opponent in the courtroom is called the opposing counsel.
While the lawyer must remain respectful of the opposing counsel, they must also zealously represent
their clients' position. A lawyer is sometimes called upon to perform the role of advisor or counselor to
help clients with problems such as divorce, relationships between parents and children, drafting wills,
drafting contracts and other matters. In this role, the lawyer must seek to meet the desires of the client
while providing practical advice to accomplish their goal. Often, the lawyer serves as a negotiator
working with the client as well as the opposing side to find the best way to settle a conflict. This is a
difficult role, as the lawyer must be able to find compromises and to know the right moment to present
these to reach the best settlement for the client. Negotiation is a skill that requires experience and
patience on the part of the lawyer.

Preamble: A Lawyers Responsibilities

A lawyer is a representative of clients or a neutral third party, an officer of the legal system and a public citizen having
special responsibility for the quality of justice.

A lawyer may perform various functions. As advisor, a lawyer provides a client with an informed understanding of the
client's legal rights and obligations and explains their practical implications. As advocate, a lawyer zealously asserts
the client's position under the rules of the adversary system. As negotiator, a lawyer seeks a result advantageous to
the client but consistent with requirements of honest dealing with others. As intermediary between clients, a lawyer
seeks to reconcile their divergent interests as an advisor and, to a limited extent, as a spokesperson for each client.
As third party neutral, a lawyer represents neither party, but helps the parties arrive at their own solution. As
evaluator, a lawyer examines a client's legal affairs and reports about them to the client or to others.

In all professional functions a lawyer should be competent, prompt and diligent. A lawyer should maintain
communication with a client concerning the representation. A lawyer should keep in confidence information relating to
representation of a client except so far as disclosure is required or permitted by the Rules of Professional Conduct or
other law.

A lawyer's conduct should conform to the requirements of the law, both in professional service to clients and in the
lawyer's business and personal affairs. A lawyer should use the law's procedures only for legitimate purposes and not
to harass or intimidate others. A lawyer should demonstrate respect for the legal system and for those who serve it,
including judges, other lawyers and public officials. While it is a lawyer's duty, when necessary, to challenge the
rectitude of official action, it is also a lawyer's duty to uphold legal process.

As a public citizen, a lawyer should seek improvement of the law, the administration of justice and the quality of
service rendered by the legal profession. As a member of a learned profession, a lawyer should cultivate knowledge
of the law beyond its use for clients, employ that knowledge in reform of the law and work to strengthen legal
education. A lawyer should be mindful of deficiencies in the administration of justice and of the fact that the poor, and
sometimes persons who are not poor, cannot afford adequate legal assistance, and should therefore devote
professional time and civic influence in their behalf. A lawyer should aid the legal profession in pursuing these
objectives and should help the bar regulate itself in the public interest.

Many of a lawyer's professional responsibilities are prescribed in the Rules of Professional Conduct, as well as
substantive and procedural law. However, a lawyer is also guided by personal conscience and the approbation of
professional peers. A lawyer should strive to attain the highest level of skill, to improve the law and the legal
profession, and to exemplify the legal profession's ideals of public service.

A lawyer's responsibilities as a representative of clients, an officer of the legal system and a public citizen are usually
harmonious. Thus, when an opposing party is well represented, a lawyer can be a zealous advocate on behalf of a
client and at the same time assume that justice is being done. So also, a lawyer can be sure that preserving client
 confidences ordinarily serves the public interest because people are more likely to seek legal advice, and thereby
heed their legal obligations, when they know their communications will be private.

In the nature of law practice, however, conflicting responsibilities are encountered. Virtually all difficult ethical
problems arise from conflict between a lawyer's responsibilities to clients, to the legal system and to the lawyer's own
interest in remaining an upright person while earning a satisfactory living. The Rules of Professional Conduct
prescribe terms for resolving such conflicts. Within the framework of these Rules, many difficult issues of professional
discretion can arise. Such issues must be resolved through the exercise of sensitive professional and moral judgment
guided by the basic principles underlying the Rules.

The legal profession is largely self-governing. Although other professions also have been granted powers of self-
government, the legal profession is unique in this respect because of the close relationship between the profession
and the processes of government and law enforcement. This connection is manifested in the fact that ultimate
authority over the legal profession is vested largely in the courts.

To the extent that lawyers meet the obligations of their professional calling, the occasion for government regulation is
obviated. Self-regulation also helps maintain the legal profession's independence from government domination. An
independent legal profession is an important force in preserving government under law, for abuse of legal authority is
more readily challenged by a profession whose members are not dependent on government for the right to practice.

The legal profession's relative autonomy carries with it special responsibilities of self-government. The profession has
a responsibility to assure that its regulations are conceived in the public interest and not in furtherance of parochial or
self-interested concerns of the bar. Every lawyer is responsible for observance of the Rules of Professional Conduct.
A lawyer should also aid in securing their observance by other lawyers. Neglect of these responsibilities compromises
the independence of the profession and the public interest which it serves.

Lawyers play a vital role in the preservation of society. The fulfillment of this role requires an understanding by
lawyers of their relationship to our legal system. The Rules of Professional Conduct, when properly applied, serve to
define that relationship.

The role of a lawyer

A lawyer's job is to listen to your problem, give you legal advice, discuss your options, take
instructions about what you want to do and help you understand how the law applies to
your case. Your lawyer may even represent you if you go to court.
When a lawyer is working for you, they have a number of duties. They must:

Follow instructions
Maintain confidentiality
Avoid conflicts of interest
Communicate efficiently and in a timely manner
Act honestly and in your best interests
Act with skill and diligence