Beyond Smart: Lawyering with Emotional Intelligence
By Ronda Muir; Published by American Bar Association and sponsored by the Section of Dispute Resolution (2025)
Lawyers are known (and expected) to be cognitively intelligent. Who wouldn’t be after a minimum of three years of law school, digesting the minutiae of landmark judicial opinions and convoluted concepts of law, some dating back to the era of common law, and then sitting for a grueling two- to three-day bar examination trying to remember the difference between shifting and springing executory interests, libel and slander, and burglary and theft? However, there is an intelligence, or wisdom, if you will, that resides beyond one’s ability to reason logically or make sound judgments that perhaps is a much better indicator of success and well-being. In her book, Beyond Smart: Lawyering with Emotional Intelligence, author Ronda Muir theorizes that emotionally intelligent lawyers are smarter, more successful, more prosperous, and healthier and happier. Unfortunately, data has shown that attorneys as a group tend to exhibit few indicators and components of emotional intelligence (EI), such as emotional perception, emotional empathy, emotional understanding, and emotional regulation. Thankfully, lawyers are not beyond redemption and hold the keys to developing a more emotionally intelligent workplace, and according to Muir, it all starts at the top. Through thoughtful hiring practices and the implementation of EI development programs, lawyer leaders can build a successful practice and continually engage a talented workforce. After all, “[e]motional attachment to a workplace is a stronger bond than a sense of obligation or a financial attachment.”
For those looking for their own self-improvement, Muir offers ways to evaluate one’s EI and provides some questions to ask to “start you thinking and feeling.” Don’t worry, though, if your EI evaluation shows the need for some strengthening; Muir suggests four ways to raise each of the components of EI, thereby placing you on the road to becoming emotionally smarter.
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