New lawyers often ask about the magic bullet of client relationships. They want the one secret of exceeding expectations, the secret sauce of lawyering. There isn’t one; in the law, as in life, it is the small things that save us.
Recent advice I gave to a new lawyer: Don’t just tell the client about what is going on a case, but what is not going on, as in, “Litigation is like war. Periods of intense activity are interrupted by long periods of inactivity. This is a period of inactivity, and I just wanted to let you know.”
If you do not do so, the client thinks the worse, “Why have I not heard from my lawyer? I wonder if everything is OK?”
Pre-empt this fretting. Drop the client a line. And, by the way, doing so is a client courtesy, not an opportunity to squeeze a billable fraction of an hour. Do well by doing right.
I was impressed by hired outside counsel who sent a one page update every month, even if it said nothing happened that month but X and Y were planned. That's a good practice and it would be impressive also to put on the bill: "Monthly Update - no charge".
Posted by: Morris Haggerty | February 12, 2013 at 09:13 AM
There's nothing more annoying than playing phone tag with a lawyer. I had a traffic violation I wanted to fight, but the guy apparently needed a phone answer service, because no one wanted to answer half of the time. Ended up changing service.
Posted by: Jamie Salcedo | February 20, 2013 at 07:28 AM