Communicating During Conflict: Understanding Your Role
Incivility in the legal profession continues to be a challenge. According to the Commission’s 2021 Survey on Professionalism, 54% of Illinois attorneys have experienced uncivil or unprofessional behavior from another lawyer in the past 6 months.
A significant amount of the incivility reported comes in the form of communication: sarcastic comments or a condescending attitude, inflammatory writing, inappropriate language, and interrupting others (e.g., clients, colleagues, counsel, judges, witness).
“Communicating During Conflict: Understanding Your Role,” is a 30-minute eLearning that uses role-playing and problem-solving to help attorneys manage their emotions in high-stress situations that could undermine civil communication.
Attorneys will develop strategies for identifying competing interests, avoiding adversarial positions, and building mutually beneficial outcomes. They will also learn how to gain buy-in from others and deter further conflict.
As a result of taking this course, participants can expect to learn how to:
- Understand the impacts of engaging in uncivil discourse
- Manage their reaction to uncivil communication
- Reframe their response to incivility
This course is approved for 0.5 hours of professionalism professional responsibility CLE credit in Illinois.