Before law school, I ran the gauntlet of customer service jobs. Food services, retail, receptionist, server – you name it, I did it. At the same time, feeling an early aspiration to pursue law, I couldn’t help but wonder if there were other jobs that would make me a more appealing candidate to schools and employers alike.
I was surprised not only by how receptive legal employers have always been to my past customer service work, but also how helpful it’s been in legal practice.
Here are just a few ways I’ve felt the benefit of my experiences:
Managing Expectations
When I was a teenager, I could not stop getting myself into sticky situations by making promises I couldn’t keep. Once, a customer at a retail job asked me if they had a shirt in a certain colour, and I replied with an emphatic “Yes! Let me go get it from the back”.
After spending far too long in the back, realizing that we indeed did not have that shirt in that colour, the dread set in. Not only did I waste the customer’s time, but I now needed to return and admit my mistake to their face. The only real consequence upon doing so was being met with a blank face and “Oh, okay”. Even so, it was a simple lesson that empty promises aren’t worth the risk.
In law, there’s often a pull to try to placate clients by giving them immediate validation. Their matters are already taking “forever”, and the outcome is important to them. However, if you make a promise you can’t keep, you risk undermining their confidence in you. Once a client loses faith in their lawyer, the whole client-solicitor relationship may as well collapse entirely.
Information Gathering
In customer service, I quickly learned that what a customer says they want isn't always what they actually need. A customer who asks to omit shrimp from their dish may simply dislike the texture or tase. Or, they may have a shellfish allergy, in which swapping in scallops without asking is a bold way to find out. I learned to ask targeted questions and read between the lines, ideally before your customer starts breaking out in hives.
When a client comes to the firm with a legal issue, we’d be lucky if they present a neat, chronological, legally relevant timeline. Instead, they may give a messy narrative filled with personal grievances, irrelevant details, and missing gaps. My time in customer service taught me how to interview people effectively, including active listening, knowing when to dig deeper, and how to gently guide a conversation back on track to get the facts I actually need.
Dealing with Conflict
When I was much younger, my instinct was always to be very deferential to rowdy customers. I didn’t want to risk making them angrier. Over time, I found that coming in with an assertive-but-respectful attitude was far more successful than appearing sheepish. Customers who are upset are often testing the waters, gauging how much room they have to push. A confident "here's what I can do" landed better than being needlessly apologetic because it signaled that I was actually in control of the situation.
Now in legal practice, the stakes are much higher. Some clients are a combination of emotional, on tight time constraints, or confused by the legal process. Opposing counsel can be belligerent, or worse, incompetent. All-in-all, the average lawyer may be confronted with several difficult conversations per week. Any opportunity I had to build my confidence in dealing with confrontation was a valuable one.
The Main Takeaway
Looking back, I don't think my time in customer service made me a stronger candidate because it filled in space on my resume. It mattered because it forced me to develop skills that no amount of studying could have taught me. I shouldn’t have discounted the years I spent folding shirts, serving tables, or answering phones. I may not have known it at the time, but I was already a lawyer in training.
by Caroline S.