On April 22, 2006, Charles Halpern, a member of the Board of Directors of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, spoke to a group of about 70 attorneys in Woodacre, CA on the ethical dimensions of communications in law practice.
Rule 3-500, Communication, of the California Rules of Professional Conduct requires the duty to keep clients "reasonably informed about significant developments".
However, the rule appears to set a minimum standard for discipline in that the attorney is required to exchange certain relevant and important information, without having to ensure that the client actually understands the information. Further, though communication includes body language and voice tone, the rule appears to only involve verbal content.
Mr. Halpern discussed a meditative approach to communications. This approach involves mindful listening. Careful listening requires listening without preparing what to say while the other person is talking, without looking for the weaknesses in the other person's speech, without interrupting with personal comments or questions.
Mr. Halpern also mentioned that another factor to better communications, is the establishment of trust with the client. In order to establish trust, the attorney should be fully present allowing time for questions and conversation, taking into account issues relating to culture, education, and language.
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