When I talk to professional firms about developing their client relations skills and we go through the list of skills they could acquire or refine, most of them do not consider the skill of listening to very sexy, attractive, or even interesting. And yet, ironically, the most powerful, capable rainmakers in significant firms who have been through skills-training programs have told me that listening was the most important skill they acquired—by a long shot.

Gerald A. Riskin, The Successful Lawyer: Powerful Strategies for Transforming Your Practice 51 (2005).