You may be confident of your ability to act with courtesy and professionalism in your home country. But with the array of cultural differences, social mores and business traditions you may encounter while traveling, how can you be sure you’re not offending clients and alienating foreign judges and arbiters?
In this episode of Asked and Answered, the ABA Journal’s Stephanie Francis Ward speaks with Terri Morrison, etiquette expert and author of Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands: Courtrooms and Corporate Counsels, which is scheduled to be released this summer.
Some of the tips she offers include whether to start off with small talk—pleasantries are involved before getting down to business in some countries, while in others they are not—and different approaches to interrupting. In France, for example, interrupting is encouraged, Morrison says, but in other places it’s uncommon. She also advises being mindful of how long you speak; don’t think that just because no one has interrupted you that your statements are going over well.