CLE Event: Managing Difficult Client Interactions Without Escalation

COURSE DETAILS

This session provides attorneys with practical strategies for managing difficult client interactions before they escalate into conflict, complaints, or disruptions to the attorney-client relationship. Through an examination of the communication patterns that often contribute to tension, participants will learn how emotional escalation develops, recognize common attorney and client triggers, and identify assumptions, misunderstandings, and reaction patterns that can undermine productive communication. The program will explore the impact of conflict on client satisfaction, case management, and professional effectiveness while emphasizing communication as a core risk-management and professionalism tool.

Building on this foundation, attendees will develop a framework for de-escalation and professional communication that can be applied in everyday legal practice. The program will cover active listening techniques, expectation management, maintaining appropriate professional boundaries, reframing conflict, managing emotionally charged conversations, and responding effectively under pressure. Through realistic legal scenarios involving angry, demanding, and repeatedly challenging clients, participants will apply these techniques to common practice situations and leave with actionable tools to reduce conflict, strengthen client relationships, improve communication outcomes, and minimize the risks associated with breakdowns in the attorney-client relationship.

FACULTY

Moderator: TBD

Faculty: Katherine Sellery