Lawyernomics

Keeping Clients Through Communication

January 10, 2012 Practice Management
By Mark Britton

In 2001, I was profiled in the National Law Journal as General Counsel for Expedia.  Although the underlying interview was long, one sentence was called out.  In big block letters it said, “I feel that a lot of time [outside] counsel try to hide things.”  I was quoted correctly, but boy did I take flack for this.  When the article was published, I don’t know how many lawyer friends, including my current outside counsel, emailed or called me saying “what the . . .”  I did a lot of explaining but stuck to my premise that outside counsel will often “overestimate” what they can handle in either time or expertise (and sometimes both).

Over a decade later, with a little more mileage under my belt, I still find this statement to hold true.  Nothing is more frustrating for a client to get a creeping feeling that their lawyer is not getting the job done.  I have had this happen a couple of times and, in one acute instance, I had to terminate our relationship with a lawyer that was either out of his league or out of time for us.  Although the math never made sense (he should have had the expertise and time), the lawyer never attempted to communicate the reasons for the shortcomings.

And, that is really the key:  Communication.  You know you will drop the ball with some clients – it is the nature of having dozens, maybe hundreds, of clients relying on you.  But how do you communicate with your clients on the front and back end, and even during your representation, to ensure that no one ever leaves you in an angry huff?  Here are three practical pointers that will keep your angry exits to a minimum:

Don’t pretend to your clients that they are your only client.  If you constantly tell clients they are the “only one,” they will expect to be the “only one” every time they pick up the phone.  This creates extraordinary problems (and stress) when multiple “only ones” simultaneously call on your undying love.  By communicating to each client before and during your representation that you have many successful clients who need your attention at different times – but that you will never leave that client in a lurch – your client will be better educated when that inevitable conflict arises.  With that education as a base, you can then have a calmer conversation around your client’s options in their time of need.

If you don’t know something, tell your client.  So many lawyers want to be everything for their client.  The client has a big case involving a core legal issue that the lawyer knows something about but is not an expert.  Insecurity creeps in and the lawyer tells this valuable client that the case is in their wheelhouse. The inevitable the ship wreck ensues.  Here’s a secret:  Clients don’t expect you to know everything.  They expect you to know how to get them from point A to point B, and if that means sending them to someone else with more expertise, that is great.  Clients get angry when you waste their time or money.  Being honest up front avoids both of those, and helping them find the right lawyer may even save them time and money – and your relationship.

If you love your clients, set them free.  When conflicts or lack of subject matter expertise arise, communicate the options to your client.  More often than not, you will need to hand-off your client to another lawyer – either inside or outside of your firm.  This is so hard for the lawyer that has worked hard to get and retain this client, but it is also so necessary.   If you are a great lawyer, your client will come back.  But you can also do things to increase the chance they come back.  First, build a relationship with different lawyers for outsourced clients.  If you are sending a single lawyer loads of outsourced work, they have no incentive to steal a single client.  Second, check-in on the client throughout the outsourced representation to reinforce that you are still thinking about them and their case.  Third, when the case is over, meet with your client to understand what went well and not so well in the case.  Ask them how you can improve the outsourcing process in the future, etc.  While there are some mild client confidence issues that you need to navigate, overall this reinforces that you are the general manager of all things outsourced.  Just as importantly, your client will appreciate the communication and the opportunity to air any discomfort.

All of this boils down to communication with a splash of sophistication.  The most sophisticated lawyers are happy to talk about what they know and don’t know, and they are also secure in the value of their representation.  They will often set their clients free, and their clients love them for it.  Their clients love them so much, they would never send their legal work elsewhere . . . unless they are forced to.

Mark

[Note:  This article was originally published in the Law.com Legal Technology Blog.  That blog no longer exists and they have taken down all of the content, so I updated it and republish it here.]