Clients, Counselors, and Culture

Jasen Kracht*

Culture. A word often invoked but not fully understood. A concept rightfully viewed as essential but often clouded with ambiguity. A driving force behind human interaction but one that eludes definition. Culture permeates our surroundings, all while leaving us with a question: What is culture?

One definition of culture is that it is the learned “knowledge and behavi[o]r that characteri[z]es a particular group.”¹ This, however, is not the only, or necessarily best definition, merely one among a great many others.² Anthropologists in 1952 catalogued 164 definitions of culture, a number that has only grown since.³ Indeed, this is part of what makes this concept so ambiguous, its multitude of definitions. Most of these definitions, however, share a common element that culture is fundamentally social or communal.⁴ This communal nature is important in understanding culture and individuals’ cultural sense of belonging. This is because it positions any interaction with someone as something where both the individual and the unique background and context that person comes from must be respected. Such an ability to understand and interact with people of differing cultural backgrounds is known as “cultural competency.”⁵ More specifically, cultural competency refers to the recognition and the ability to recognize that culture and cultural values influence how people see the world, express themselves, and come to decisions.⁶ It involves being able to “adapt, work and manage successfully in new and unfamiliar cultural settings.”⁷ Cultural competency (also referred to as “cultural proficiency”) allows lawyers to reach across cultural divides and build bridges.⁸ Without cultural competency, there is a danger that an attorney will misunderstand a client’s values or style of communication.⁹ This could create barriers in the attorney-client relationship. A lawyer lacking cultural competency may not be able to fully understand a client’s story and background and consequently, may be unable to present it in a compelling way to a judge and jury.¹⁰ Fundamentally, cultural competency is crucial because the practice of law is a service profession.¹¹ As a service profession, lawyers have a deep responsibility to ensure the best for their clients.¹² Thus, cultural competency is critical. And as law students are preparing to become lawyers, cultural competency is crucial for them as well.

The importance of cultural competency in legal education has been recognized by the American Bar Association (ABA) when it added a requirement that law school curriculum include education in “cross-cultural competency” with its 2022–2023 Standards of Approval for Law Schools.¹³ Legal scholars have also advocated for the inclusion of cultural competency in legal education, both before and after the ABA updated its standards. They discussed cultural competency as an integral part of leadership development for aspiring lawyers¹⁴ and in training law students how to better communicate to and build trust with their future clients.¹⁵ It is important for law students to receive this type of training in law school before they enter practice and build habits and systems that might unintentionally exclude the development of cultural competency. That, however, is not to say that current requirements are necessarily sufficient for this development. One author has criticized them as “too vague to effectively cultivate cultural competency education for law students.”¹⁶ This vagueness comes into play partly as the Standards only require this training twice during a legal education and they lack firm requirements for such training.¹⁷ Vagueness is also present in the language itself. The phrase “cultural competency,” much like “culture,” can be highly malleable and open to a range of interpretations. This means that despite the best efforts of all involved, there will always be something about cultural competency that is somewhat ethereal and out of reach. This does not mean that there are not clear ways to teach at least forms of cultural competency, for there certainly are.¹⁸ What it does mean is that this topic must be approached with a clear goal in mind and a clear plan to achieve growth in cultural competency.

While there are no explicit requirements for cultural competency in legal practice, the need for this can be seen in both the Minnesota Rules for Professional Conduct and in a Formal Opinion issued by the ABA. Rule 1.4 on communication requires that lawyers “reasonably consult with the client about the means by which the client’s objectives are to be accomplished” and “keep the client reasonably informed about the status of the matter.”¹⁹ Likewise, in its Formal Opinion 500, the ABA noted that “the duty of competence requires close attention to social and cultural differences that can affect a client’s understanding of legal advice, legal concepts, and other aspects of the representation” and that this competence meant being able to identify and understand cultural differences and addressing any problems that may arise from them.²⁰ The Rule’s requirements to consult with the client objectives and to keep the client informed both presume, but do not explicitly require, some level of cultural competency. To communicate effectively with clients, lawyers may, and in our increasingly intercultural world, likely will, need to bridge cultural divides. This requires an understanding of culture and how to engage effectively with those from different cultures. The Formal Opinion is not automatically binding.²¹ It does, however, provide insight into the direction of the legal field towards recognizing the need for cultural competency and actively working towards it. This march towards cultural competency can be seen in various practice areas, from employment law,²² to estate planning,²³ to mediation.²⁴ Thus, while not officially required in practice as it is in education, cultural competency represents a burgeoning priority within the legal field.

The question remains: how to build cultural competency? The answer revolves less around a checklist of steps to be followed and more around a constellation of practices to be embraced. These practices generally begin with an understanding on one’s own “cultural lens,” the combination of background and values that influences how a person sees the world.²⁵ Beyond this, it is important to put in effort to learn about unfamiliar cultural backgrounds and to be open to other perspectives, especially those of clients.²⁶ Cultural competence can also be built by a continual awareness of clients’ needs and how to meet them.²⁷ This can either directly build cultural competency if those needs spring from a cultural source or indirectly build it by fostering a desire to provide for the particular needs of an individual client, a key factor in cultural competency.²⁸ More practices include: identifying cultural similarities and differences between oneself and one’s client and analyzing how these might impact the attorney-client relationship; considering “parallel universes,” alternative explanations for certain client behavior than what might first come to mind; and proactively identifying potential cultural flashpoints and devising methods to address them before they appear.²⁹ These practices, coupled with a broad awareness of the ubiquitousness of culture and the importance of cultural competency, can help foster greater cultural competency, and with it, better outcomes for both clients and lawyers.

*Jasen Kracht, J.D. Candidate, University of St. Thomas School of Law Class of 2027 (Associate Editor).

1. Cecillia Hayes, Culture, CURRENT BIOLOGY, Oct. 19, 2020, at R1246, R1246. ↩︎
2. See generally What is Culture?, UNIV. MINN.: CTR. FOR ADVANCED RSCH. ON LANGUAGE ACQUISITION, https://archive.carla.umn.edu/culture/definitions.html [https://perma.cc/CG2W-67Y6] (last visited Nov. 24, 2025); See generally Cultural Awareness, NAT’L CENTER FOR CULTURAL COMPETENCE, https://nccc.georgetown.edu/curricula/awareness/C4.html [https://perma.cc/C7QB-5MBC]. ↩︎
3. Hayes supra note 1, at R1246. ↩︎
4. See What is Culture?, supra note 2; Cultural Awareness, supra note 2. ↩︎
5. Ankur Doshi, Understanding This Fundamental Component of an Effective, Ethical Practice Cultural Competence, OR. ST. B. BULL., 7, 7 (2025). ↩︎
6. Id. ↩︎
7. Aastha Madaan, Cultural Competency and the Practice of Law in the 21st Century, PROB. & PROP. 29, 30 (2016) (quoting Sylvia Sevens, Cultural Competency: Is There an Ethical Duty, OR. ST. B. BULL., 9, 9 (2009)). ↩︎
8. Anastasia M. Boles, Demetria D. Frank, Darrell D. Jackson, & Jamila Jefferson, Culturally Proficient Lawyering: A Framework and Rubric Supporting Learning Outcomes and Objectives, 86 U. PITT. L. REV. 1, 12–13 (2024). ↩︎
9. Doshi, supra note 5, at 7. ↩︎
10. Assata Smith, Note, Beyond Compliance: Unmasking the Gaps in ABA Standard 303(c) for Cultural Competency, 55 U. MEM. L. REV. 385, 396–97 (2024). ↩︎
11. Neil Hamilton, et al., Standard 303 and the Development of Student Professional Identity: A Framework for the Intentional Exploration of the Profession’s Core Values, 20 U. ST. THOMAS L.J. 1001, 1006 (2024). ↩︎
12. See id. at 1009. ↩︎
13. ABA STANDARDS AND RULES OF PROCEDURE FOR APPROVAL OF LAW SCHOOLS, 2022–2023, at 18 (2022), https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/legal_education_and_admissions_to_the_bar/standards/2022-2023/2022-2023-standards-and-rules-of-procedure.pdf. ↩︎
14. Leah Teague, Modernizing Legal Education Through Leadership Development Programs: Equipping Lawyers for Success, Significance and Satisfaction Through Service, 58 WAKE FOREST L. REV. 943, 967 (2023). ↩︎
15. Serena Patel, Cultural Competency Training: Preparing Law Students for Practice in Our Multicultural World, 62 UCLA L. REV. DISCOURSE 140, 144 (2014). ↩︎
16. Smith, supra note 10, at 388. ↩︎
17. Smith, supra note 10, at 413. ↩︎
18. See generally Boles et. al, supra note 8. ↩︎
19. MINN. R. PRO. CONDUCT 1.4 (2005). ↩︎
20. A.B.A. Comm. on Pro. Ethics & Pro. Resp., Formal Op. 500, at 9 (2021). ↩︎
21. Publications, A.B.A., https://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/ (last visited Nov. 24, 2025). ↩︎
22. See Karsten Bailey, Navigating Employment Law with Emotional Intelligence and Cultural Competency, WIS. LAW., Apr. 2025, at 35, 36. ↩︎
23. See Chiemela P. Okwandu, Social Competency in Estate Planning, GPSOLO, November/December 2022, at 29, 30. ↩︎
24. See Karen Carroll, Reflecting on A Culturally Competent Mediation Practice, DISP. RESOL. MAG., January 2025, at 11, 12–13. ↩︎
25. Doshi, supra note 5, at 12. ↩︎
26. Doshi, supra note 5, at 12. ↩︎
27. Bailey, supra note 22, at 36. ↩︎
28. Madaan, supra note 7, at 30. ↩︎
29. Cf. Patel, supra note 15, at 146–48 (describing cultural competency formation for law students which can be readily used by lawyers as well). ↩︎

Clients, Counselors, and Culture

By Jasen Kracht