As a licensed attorney, you’re charged with certain professional responsibilities when dealing with clients.
As an advisor, you must have an informed understanding of your clients’ legal rights and obligations.
As an advocate, you must zealously asset your clients’ positions under the rules of the adversary system.
As a negotiator, you must seek a result advantageous to your client but consistent with the requirements of honest dealings with others.
As an intermediary between clients, you must seek to reconcile their divergent interests as an advisor, and to a limited extent, as a spokesperson for each client.
In all professional functions, you should zealously pursue clients’ interests within the bounds of the law. In doing so, you must be competent, prompt and diligent. You should maintain communication with your clients concerning their representation.
All that should be a no brainer…
These guidelines aren’t just the requirements for keeping your bar card, they should be first and foremost in your mind in all dealings with your clients.
Granted, when you’re up to your chin in alligators, it’s sometimes hard to remember that your initial objective was to drain the swamp. But being really busy is no excuse for not keeping in touch with your clients and letting them know what’s going on with their case.
That’s part of what they’re paying you for. Not just to do the work but to give them the peace of mind of knowing that what they’ve hired you to do is being handled promptly and correctly.
Here are a few tips for keeping your clients happy and doing your job the right way:
Do Your Homework
Clients don’t always tell you everything you need to know. Sometimes it’s because they don’t understand what you need to know as a lawyer. Other times, they just don’t tell you the truth.
As an attorney, the responsibility for getting the information you need to effectively represent your clients is yours. Because you’re the licensed attorney, you’re held to a higher standard by the Bar than your client. Make sure you understand everything you need to in order to represent your clients and protect yourself from getting involved in situations that could cause your ethical problems later on.
Don’t Dodge Phone Calls
The minute you start doing this, it’s a slippery slope to neglecting your clients and not giving them the attention they deserve. Yes, Mrs. So and So may be the biggest pain in the neck you’ve ever met, but she’s a paying client. If you don’t have time to get on the phone with her every single time she calls, set aside a time every week, maybe one day a week, to return calls to clients. Make sure they know that schedule when they retain you and make sure your staff tells them when they can expect a call. Unless it’s something really catastrophic, they’ll be happy to know when they can talk to you.
And stick with that schedule. It’s carved in stone if that’s what the client is expecting.
Send Out Status Letters
Many legal matters can be lengthy undertakings. But the client needs to know that and they need to know what’s going on with their case. Even if nothing has happened since the last time you spoke or corresponded with the client, you still need to send them monthly status letters so they understand that you haven’t forgotten about them and you’re doing what they’ve paid you to do.
Always notify your clients of significant developments in writing. If you send an email, send a letter as well.
Listen To Your Staff
Eavesdrop on how your staff interacts with your clients. If the person answering your phone sounds like she would rather have a root canal without anesthesia than talk to your clients, it’s time for an attitude adjustment or it’s time to find someone else to answer your phone. Your staff is the first line of contact with your clients. They need to understand that when those clients stop calling, they don’t have a job. Period.
Think about a good customer support training program for your staff. Make sure your support staff understands that they are an integral part of legal team and how they handle client issues is as important how you practice law.
It’s Not Just Ethics, It’s Good Customer Support
If you approach your client communications like you would want to be treated as a client or customer, you’ll never have a problem with potential ethics violations. And you’ll have clients that love you and refer friend and family to you at every opportunity. There’s no better way to build a thriving practice.
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