Het liggen
Door Alexander de Nerée
Een nadeel van mijn, op zichzelf interessant beroep, is dat ik heel wat het liggen in mijn dagelijks werk ontmoet. Het tegendeel aan populair gelooft het niet zo veel de advocaten is die het liggen doen. Hoewel ik moet toelaten de advocaten over het algemeen niet gemakkelijk aan deel met informatie worden overreed, laat staan de waarheid, verkies ik aan wat te denken wij zoals het bekwame uitgeven van de informatie een bepaalde versie van de waarheid doen passen. Geen kwaad in dat. Dat is welke advocaten om worden betaald te doen.
Maar om de informatie uit te geven, zult u de informatie moeten eerst verkrijgen. En dat is niet zo gemakkelijk aangezien het kan klinken. Eerst is er de filter van het gekwetste gevoel van de cliënt die het moeilijk maakt om om het even welke relevante informatie te verkrijgen. In zijn sterk geloof van de juistheid en de billijkheid van zijn eigen positie, de cliëntfilters uit om het even wat die om in zijn nadeel schijnt te zijn.
„Zij klaagden nooit over de kwaliteit van onze producten en nu, uit BLEU, willen zij hun van de geldrug en eis schade! Dat is onredelijk.“ Op zichzelf dit is een goed punt dat juridisch kon relevant zijn maar niet als de cliënt langs `nooit geklaagd' betekent `nooit geklaagd behalve binnen 40 e-mail dat ik niet om verkoos te antwoorden op en ook om aan mijn advocaat niet' verkoos te geven. Men kan de vreugde van de advocaat veronderstellen die met deze 40 e-mail na ongeveer het gaan op geconfronteerd wordt hoe onredelijk deze gehele situatie voor zijn cliënt is.
More difficult even then getting information from your own client, is getting the information that you need from your client’s counter part. In a recent case the other party was so stubborn in its unwillingness to give any information, that we had to ask the court in the Netherlands to order them to give it up.
Thankfully no e-mails ruining my case surfaced and the judge was, at least temporarily, impressed with the fact that two people had flown from Hong Kong for a hearing of one hour. And with me, she was suspicious of the fact that somebody could be so reluctant to give information. They have something to hide…. So as always, I am wondering what they are not telling me.
Alexander de Nerée, De Neree Advocates
February 14th, 2008 at 6:48 am
Too true. As a headhunter I am probably lied to only slightly less than a police officer and only slighlty more than family doctor.
I find the omission of facts especially challenging when it comes (or doesn’t as the case may be) from my clients. In my role it is important to pre-handle as much as possible and when things come up at the 11th hour this becomes quite difficult.
February 15th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
I speak on the side of the “unseen customer” whom we’ve been complaining about above: I see a lot of misunderstanding can possibly arise when expectations are not deliberately asked for nor clearly defined from the beginning. Likewise when the benefit of your services has not been clearly stated, there is little motivation for anyone to be cooperative.
As a professional person providing a professional service, it is frequently an expectation of the paying customer that the lawyers and recruiters of the world step up and ask the right questions to make sure the benefit of their service is clear, and that everyone’s expectations have been clearly stated. Face it, some folks aren’t good communicators, or don’t know any better.
An unspoken expectation: You are being paid to be the better communicator. After all, why would someone come to you otherwise? If the benefit of your service is not clear from the beginning, then quite simply, there is no motivation in further discussion nor in volunteering all the information that would be helpful to you. Offer the horse a carrot so he will follow you.
If you haven’t fulfilled the superior communication role, then, yes, of course there will appear to be what you perceive to be lying - when in fact its just a mere instance of the lawyers and recruiters not asking enough questions.
Granted there are folks who are outright deceptive - up to you to decide whether you wish to deal with them. As you say, this is a drawback to your profession.
March 2nd, 2008 at 2:54 am
Thanks Alexander for this insight, although I’m somewhat puzzled though as to why you would choose to tag this opinion to business with China. My own experience is that your observation is universal and has no special significance to China or the Chinese. We can observe similar behaviors in any culture. Facts are an essential currency of all business. Consumers of fact must be careful to distinguish fact from non-fact. The amount of effort devoted to that process depends on the value placed on the use of facts and how that use will impact a particular business operation. Authentication (verification, confirmation) is crucial for high value transactions. At Horizon Data we use triangulation as a routine means of distinguishing fact from non-fact. Of course, the cost is higher, but that is what clients expect if they want and need facts for their business; whatever that busines may be.