The VBA Journal is the official publication of The Virginia Bar Association.
Issue link: http://vba.epubxp.com/i/815343
32 • VBA JOURNAL A wake at 3:30 a.m. with your mind racing, emails and texts never stop coming. No relief in sight. Sound familiar? You are not alone. As the Virginia State Bar's Study Committee on the Future of Law Practice recently noted, "We feel the pain of lawyers overwhelmed by a digital world that is foreign to them." 2 As our profes- sion struggles to adapt to today's frenetic pace, the Joint Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee of e Virginia Bar Association and Virginia State Bar is exploring ways to help lawyers embrace and manage the accelerating future. One of those ways involves the concept of triage, which can be used as part of client intake, among other applications. Established principles of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) can assist in performing a triage that can help you remain focused on what really matters. Triage – an old idea whose time has come for those of us in the legal profession, rests upon the precepts of organization and prioritization. 3 ASSESSING THE PROBLEM/ DIAGNOSIS First, it is up to us to look at the big picture in diagnosing the problems clients face. While identifying specific legal issues is a fundamental start, it is not a sufficient end. We need to help the clients identify their interests, as opposed to their positions. Positions are poses; interests are the reasons for the positions taken. In medicine, patients will present with symptoms. e process of diagnosis involves going beyond those to ask for more information, examining the patient, and then testing a physician's initial impressions. So, too, in the law. For example, a client may adamantly tell you that she wants a divorce. at is her position. But upon reflection and skillful questioning, she may explain that her primary goal is to secure a stable Triage in Client Intake ADR BY THE HONORABLE DEBORAH WOOD BLEVINS 1 a: the sorting of and allocation of treatment to patients and especially battle and disaster victims according to a system of priorities designed to maximize the number of survivors b: the sorting of patients (as in an emergency room) according to the urgency of their need for care 2 the assigning of priority order to projects on the basis of where funds and other resources can be best used, are most needed, or are most likely to achieve success 1 TRIAGE