Soft Skills for the Effective Lawyer

Randall Kiser is an internationally recognized authority on attorney performance. He is the author of three books on effective advocacy and durable attorney-client relationships, and he has taught at the University of Washington School of Law, Pepperdine University School of Law, Malibu, University of Nevada School of Law, and Indiana University School of Law. Kiser is a Principal Analyst at DecisionSet® in Palo Alto, California, and his work has been featured in popular and scholarly publications ranging from The New York Times to the Harvard Negotiation Law Review. His writing integrates both academic and practical perspectives derived from twenty years' experience as a litigation attorney and thirteen years as a researcher, consultant, and educator. Kiser received his law degree in 1978 from the University of California, Berkeley.

'Any objective reading of this book would conclude that legal education has been scooped by Randall Kiser. Building upon his prior research on why some trial lawyers consistently outperform others, Kiser has delved deeper into the component parts of lawyer success. Soft Skills for the Effective Lawyer creates a simplifying and unifying framework that ties together research from a wide array of disciplines, and then places these insights into a practical format for lifetime self-improvement. In addition to applying Soft Skills to my own professional life, I am building a curriculum around this book. History will judge Kiser and Soft Skills as part of a major breakthrough in changing legal education for the better.' William Henderson, Professor and Stephen F. Burns Chair on the Legal Profession, Indiana University Maurer School of Law

• 1. Introduction; 2. Essential soft skills; 3. Self-awareness; 4. Self-development; 5. Social proficiency; 6. Wisdom; 7. Leadership; 8. Professionalism; 9. Conclusion.