Lawyer, Know Thyself: A Psychological Analysis of Personality Strengths and Weaknesses (Law and Public Policy) [Hardcover]

Susan Swaim Daicoff (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 159147096X | ISBN-13: 978-1591470960 | Publication Date: January 2004 | Edition: 1

This book reviews forty years' worth of empirical studies on lawyers and law students and how to identify themselves with the profile and personality of the typical lawyer; if they do not fit this profile, the book suggests how atypical lawyers can practice law most successfully and satisfactorily. It concludes that there is a set of eight-ten personality traits that differentiates lawyers from others.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 215 pages
• Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA); 1 edition (January 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159147096X
• ISBN-13: 978-1591470960
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #913,752 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must-Read for Lawyers - get a happy professional life., November 16, 2004

By 

GLR "Sandeep Dave" (India) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lawyer, Know Thyself: A Psychological Analysis of Personality Strengths and Weaknesses (Law and Public Policy) (Hardcover)

This book is many things - 2 books in one; a hothouse of numberless surveys; sourcebook for further research. It is factual, dark, frightening, compelling, objective, a must-read. It is hopeful, optimistic, wholesome.

It has one focus, and direction - the community of lawyers - a breed that others love to hate; the subject of unending ridicule, hatred, and pungent humour; ambulance chasers, cold, aseptic; masculine, competitive, commercial.

Are we all so? What makes us so? Why this universal dislike? Diacoff has a terrible task on hand. And she comes out with flying colours.

She shortlists 3 emerging problems - (1)a lack of "professionalism" - frequent complaints of incivility, discourtesy, "Rambo-style" litigation, unethical behaviour, poor conduct of lawyers and judges; (2) low public opinion of lawyers and the legal profession; and (3) low levels of job satisfaction, and mental well-being among lawyers, distress, alcoholism, and substance abuse.

Diacoff's solution? Comprehensive lawyering that looks as much to pyschological needs, emotions, and relations with others as to rights, duties, and obligations. Again on the force of all-round research, she suggests 10 vectors of this "change-movement". All seek to prevent litigation, encourage collaborative approach to problem-solving, aim at the "well-being" of all parties, interdisciplinary, allows them to share power equally, allows the lawyer to function in harmony with her morals and beliefs. These vectors include preventive law, procedural justice, problem-solving courts, restorative justice.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Is it time for a revolution in the legal profession?, January 26, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Lawyer, Know Thyself: A Psychological Analysis of Personality Strengths and Weaknesses (Law and Public Policy) (Hardcover)

Professor Daicoff has written an important and pivotal book in "Lawyer. Know Thyself." This book really has two audiences, the legal profession and the rest of us. She has managed to present a very scholarly work in a manner that the lay can easily understand and appreciate. She identifies three critical themes of the American legal system as is presently practiced, i. e. low level of integrity of lawyers and judges, low public opinion of the profession, and low level of job satisfaction. She has presented this work with a very human and distressing vignette of a fictional lawyer in the preface, a very readable body of the book (peppered with lawyer jokes), and voluminous notes at the end of each chapter. These notes are conveniently left out of the main text and allow one to read through without interruption. Yet, the notes reveal not only the depth of the research, which is profound, but also therein is a second book for the educators and scholars. The notes commonly include Professor Daicoff's comments and opinions of the cited work. There is a final chapter suggesting a "cure" for this malady. She suggests a Comprehensive Law Movement encompassing ten vectors of compassionate and humanizing forces.

Why is this book important for "the rest of us?" Not only will the majority of Americans have a direct need for lawyers, but also lawyers dominate our government, influence our businesses, and set a moral level for our society. This is a pivotal time for change in lawyering and "Lawyer, Know Thyself" is a clarion call for all of us.