- They communicate with greater impression both through voice and body language.
- They put clients at ease and gain their faith quickly.
To make their speech come alive and quickly establish connection with the client, good lawyers mirror (not mimic) the vocal patterns of their clients to decrease client resistance and increase client comfort.
- The Final Say: Good lawyers end assertions with a drop in tone at the end of the sentence without losing volume. It creates the ring of ''final say'' for the moment and cues the client to speak his/her mind, for the lawyer has ended his/her part of the dialogue.
- Varying the tone: Lawyers who fail to vary the pitch, inflection, or emphasis in their voices sound monotonous, and the client quickly loses interest and faith. Good lawyers always emphasize critical ideas by varying their vocal tones and techniques.
- Expressing doubt: To express doubt or ask a question, good lawyers usually raise the inflection at the end of a sentence. They are also careful not to raise inflection at the end of a sentence unless they are asking a question or expressing doubt.
- Relaxed tone and attitude: A good lawyer projects a relaxed attitude and uses a relaxed tone to put the client at ease and move forward conversation.
- Pronunciation in sync with the client: Good lawyers try to avoid use of words which they themselves pronounce correctly but the client does not. Good lawyers also avoid using words which they themselves mispronounce but the client pronounces correctly. Pronunciation sync has a great effect on developing and maintaining relationships.
- Neutralize accents when needed: As soon as any good lawyer feels that the client is ill at ease with his or her accent they try to avoid using strong accents. Even when the client shares the same accent as the lawyer, good lawyers try to neutralize their accents to the level where chances of antagonism are reduced.
- In sync with the client's volume: Good lawyers try to match the volume of their clients and never speak louder or softer than the client. Speaking softer cues doubts in the client's mind, and speaking louder makes one seem pushy.
- Controlling the speaking rate: Good lawyers never speak faster than their clients or too slow. They usually start with matching the client's normal speed of speaking, unless the client is agitated.
- Matching the tone: Good lawyers learn how to vary their vocal tones. If a client has a squeaky voice, it is not good to emphasize your baritone to the extent that underlines the contrast.
