‘The Lawyer Personality’. Personal traits of lawyers and the way they perform their professional roles

Keywords: personal traits, lawyer personality, professional roles of lawyer

English abstract: The main aim of the paper is to present a catalogue of relevant categories of personal traits that constitute the so-called ‘Lawyer Personality’. Personal traits influence the choice and the individual way in which a lawyer performs professional roles. The article indicates the typical lawyer personality traits, such as the need for competition and dominance, pragmatism, pessimism, materialism, cynicism, Machiavellianism, a tendency to become aggressive under stress, an ambition-fuelled focus on ‘winning the case’ combined with low interpersonal sensitivity, and an emphasis on the economic aspects of cases. The author calls for strengthening self-reflection and self-awareness among law students and lawyers with regard to their personal traits, which form the individual lawyer personality, in order for each lawyer to find an effective and satisfactory way of practicing law.