This article appeared in Marketing the Law Firm, an ALM/Law Journal Newsletters publication reporting on the latest, and most effective, strategies for Chief Marketing Officers, Managing Partners, Law Firm Marketing Directors, Administrators and Consultants.

Even the Perry Masons of the real world generally have weak sales skills on par with those of Willy Loman, the tragic and central figure of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. This unfortunate fact leaves many law firms scratching their heads and wondering: Why is it that those who are best skilled at advocating for others are ill-equipped at advocating for their own skills and what to do about it?

Dr. Larry Richard is recognized as a leading expert on the psychology of lawyer behavior. He is a former trial lawyer, psychologist, and the principal consultant for LawyerBrain, a management consulting firm that specializes in improving lawyer performance through personality science. Over the past 30 years, Dr. Richard extracted personality information from the Caliper Profile, and the data consistently reveals that people who choose law as a profession tend to have certain personality traits that are highly atypical.  Such traits include a high level of skepticism, high level of abstract reasoning, and a strong sense of autonomy. Additionally, lawyers are low on psychological resilience and empathy. According to Dr. Richard, "Resilience is how we react to criticism, or rejection, or set-backs and so a high resilience person basically tolerates life's bumps, either doesn't let it affect them or they get over it really quickly. But, a low resilience person gets defensive or bent out of shape and feels wounded or hurt."  Dr. Richard further explains, "Low empathy is just thinking about my agenda and what I want to put out, but I am not adjusting for the recipient's end."