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1996 J. Disp. Resol. 67 (1996)
Crisis Intervention for Legal Counselors

handle is hein.journals/jdisres1996 and id is 73 raw text is: Crisis Intervention
for Legal Counselors
Brian Easton'
I. INTRODUCTION
Day-dreaming about financial success, family life, health issues, or an
upcoming vacation while driving a car can be an irreversible mistake. A blur that
appears on the right side, can within seconds be followed by a forced impact that
rotates the car into the guardrail and a world that spins out of control. The next
memory will not be of financial prowess or an exciting summer vacation, but of
scattered images of doctors, family, and excruciating pain. When the ordeal is
over, the tragedy begins as the loss of mobility confines the a hopeful person to
a wheel chair and a life with restraints.
Farfetched?  Perhaps, but tragedy and crisis strike the unexpected and
unprepared. For some time the crisis may be nothing more than a simple
disagreement between a husband and a wife over an unannounced Internal
Revenue Service audit. For others, it may be the bonus not received or an
expectedpromotion given to a less qualified employee. Crisis strikes at the heart
strings of life and is an unwelcome visitor that lingers to inflict a tailor-made
personal trial. What is the response of the victim? For the optimist it is a
refiner's response that ennobles the sufferer, yet for the realist it carries seeds of
embitterment and depression.
Although crisis is experienced in some form by all people, few understand
the process and even fewer are willing to undergo the agony before growth can
be realized from such a disruptive experience. Through this article, the definition
of crisis and potential positive or negative reactions to crises are explored. This
article is written with the hope that readers will gain understanding of the stages
endured in crisis and knowledge of a sufferer's adaptive or maladaptive behavior.
Such knowledge would greatly benefit attorneys in their lawyer-client
relationships.
To assume clients phone for legal appointments with mere problems is to
negate the initial thrust that propels the need for legal advice. A crisis is often
this propelling factor, and an attorney must be able to understand, act from a
knowledgeable position, empathize and know the legal and nonlegal implications
facing the client. To be stationary, aloof, or combative when a client's situation
roars toward a crisis peak, is to fail as a legal counselor.

* The author is a graduate of Brigham Young University. He is currently employed at the Law
Offices of W. Douglas Easton.

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