While President of the Hennepin County Bar Association in 2015 and 2016, Kim blogged regularly with random thoughts about her random thoughts. These blogs are being “republished” here in the order they appeared during Kim’s bar presidency. Going forward more Deep (or Random Thoughts) by Kim Lowe may or may not be forthcoming. It all depends on what thoughts pop into Kim’s head (or under her high school hair) during the course of the day.
Hi! My name is Kim and I am a real estate Bridezilla: A lesson in client empathy. |
| Posted By HCBA President, Kimberly A. Lowe, Wednesday, September 16, 2015 Updated: Monday, September 14, 2015 |
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So, sometimes I just need to remember to just step away from the ledge and roll with it.For example, I am in the process of selling a house. I have found the entire experience frustrating and intolerable. It’s not that my agent is not doing a great job. He is. It’s just that I am a control freak, so allowing someone else to speak on my behalf has brought the real estate equivalent of Bridezilla that lingers in my soul out into the open. Since I am neither happy with the situation nor how I have acted throughout the process, there must be an important lesson for me to learn. And this lesson, of course, must be relatable to being a lawyer. All roads lead to Rome in my blog world. As I consider which pop culture songs best relate to my situation, two come to mind:
As I ponder my own frustration as a real estate Bridezilla, I realize that that best musical theme for this situation is Winwood’s, since “rolling with it” is what all of us should do when faced with frustrating situations. As much as Rage Against the Machine embodies my frustration, I do still need to function as a competent adult even if I want to reach through my iPhone and my agent and throttle the would-be buyers of my home. I take a deep breath and roll with it! I sit cross-legged and chant soothing dulcet tones to myself. I release the inner control freak in me and let all my anger go. NOT!!!! But I try. I can reflect on how my experience as a “client” informs how I serve my own clients. I know now how clients must feel when they are in the middle of a legal dispute or a legal situation where they must rely on us to be their voice and advocate in the legal system: frustrated and unhappy and angry and afraid! And that is exactly how I have felt through the house selling process. So when clients delegate their personal and economic well-being to us as lawyers, we need to be mindful and respectful of what they are feeling. A lesson we can all appreciate as members of the legal profession. And now I am going back to my day job . . .
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