Psychological conditions of developing client legal position in lawyer’s practice

The paper reports the results of an analysis of opportunities provided by using the tools of practical psychology in lawyer’s practice. The authors distinguish psychological aspects of such legal category as a legal position, and also a variety of client’s psychological conditions that foster its formation. They also describe specific patterns of behaviour of a lawyer and a client which promote establishing and maintaining of a psychological contact and confidential relations between them. The authors show the opportunities to create a client’s orientation in a legal situation, using the methods of active listening. They also present the results of research on the conditions that provide an effective interaction between a lawyer and a client in a course of formation of a legal position. The results of participant observation of a lawyer-client interaction reveal that the effectiveness of a lawyer’s work on formation a client’s legal position is related to a quality of psychological contact and a credibility of relations between them. One of the indicators of this effectiveness is completeness of client’s orientation in his/her legal situation. They show that the relation between these indexes is mediated by the use of methods of active listening and conversation techniques. Thus, developing his professional competence by mastering psychological methods of impact on a client, a lawyer can significantly increase his efficiency of rendering a legal aid.