How to Effectively Manage a Lawyer-Client Relationship:
best practices for communication, meeting client expectations, avoiding relationship-ending mistakes
By Sherry M. Knowles[1]Scott K. Reed[2],[3]
Introduction
Developing and maintaining a good attorney-client relationship can be challenging, but there are a number of steps that can improve the likelihood of creating a successful and lasting relationship. The steps outlined in this paper share the goal of making, and keeping, both parties comfortable. Managing an efficient attorney-client relationship requires effective communication andproactive maintenance of the relationship by both parties.
I. Three-steps to Achieving Effective Communication In Your Relationship
Effective communication is essential to every successful lawyer-client relationship. For lawyers, taking a client-centric approach to communicating can improve an attorney’s chances of succeeding in this area. This means listening closely to better appreciate the client perspective, speaking in a language the client understands, and tailoring advice to inform the client’s perspective.
a)Listen well
Given the many different responsibilities of both attorney and client, it can sometimes be difficult to do something as basic as listen. Failing to attentively listen will likely result in dissatisfaction between the client and attorney. Conversely, listening properly can set both parties at ease and provide tools that are necessary to meet expectations throughout representation.
On the part of the attorney, listening goes beyond simply noting the essential facts regarding the legal issues, it is also how the attorney can gain an appreciation of the client’s decision-making perspective, understand the client’s goals, and learn the client’s language. The more attentive the attorney is to these things, the more likely the client’s needs and expectations can be met.
b)Speak the same language
One of the quickest ways to make someone uncomfortable is to speak in a language that other partydoes not understand. For example, if the client is not legally sophisticated, the attorney should not alienate the client by providing advice that is focused on legal jargon. Additionally, if the client cannot appreciate all the contours of the legal advice, the attorney may fail to tailor the representation to the client’s expectations, or worse, the attorney may undertake actions that are detrimental to the client. There are several steps that the attorney may take to help avoid such pitfalls. One possibility is for the attorney to research the client’s legal and business experiencein order to gauge the client’s sophistication. Alternatively, the attorney can inquire into such matters at the initial meeting. The initial meeting is also an opportunity for the attorney and client to gauge their sophistication in the other party’s language. In general, the attorney should adjust his language in the direction of the client’s lexicon to ensure that the client understands and is comfortable. This does not mean that complex issues must be simplified; it merely means that language should be chosen to convey the complexity of the issues in as clear a fashion as possible.
The initial meeting is also a forum for the client to explain expectations, problems and worries; and for the lawyer to evaluate if those expectations can be adequately met. While it may be necessary for the attorney to educate the client on relevant legal issues, the initial meeting(s) may not be the best forum(s) for educating the clienton nuanced matters of the law. Of course, some discussion of general aspects of the law between both parties can serve to reassure the client of their choice of representation. As the client becomes more educated on the legal issues (and as the attorney becomes educated in the client’s lexicon), the dialogue will, and should, evolve.
Following the initial discussion, the attorney should not hesitate to inform the client when a legal area is beyond the attorney, or the firm’s, expertise. In such instances, it will help future relations if the attorney makes the effort to find the right expertise within the firm, or if necessary, with another firm. To do this, staff the matter with a team of lawyers whose backgrounds best match the project.
There are many opportunities for confusion and frustration between the parties, but with some pre-meeting diligence, and attentiveness to language, it should be possible to ensure that both the attorney and client fully understandone another during the course of representation.
c)Attorneys: Tailor advising to the decision the client will have to make
When articulating options for the client, the attorney should consider the perspective of the client, and seek to present advice in a structure that matches the client’s viewpoint. This may mean that risks and rewards are explained in the context of a larger business decision that the client will have to make. It is helpful to remember that lawyers tend to think about issues, authority, and legal conclusions, while business clients think about the options available and the risk-reward calculus. With such clients, by providing advice in terms of business choices and risk assessment, the lawyer is more likely to provide advice in a form that matches the client’s viewpoint.
II. How to Maintain a Healthy Relationship
Maintaining an effectiveattorney-client relationship demands continual attention from both parties. To help in this goal, it is important to be professional, to establish a conferencing schedule, to have both client and lawyer be jointly involved in key legal decisions, to be available and to be well-prepared and be proactive.
a)Be Professional
Maintaining the confidence of a client requires the attorney to possess the standard professional traits such as preparedness, trustworthiness, sociability, and professional courtesy. Being well-prepared and trustworthy are so central to the attorney-client relationship, they require no explanation here. Sociability and business courtesy, however, can set the best client-centered lawyers apart from the rest. Similarly, by maintaining a professional demeanor, the client can avoid making the attorney uncomfortable.
Basic social skills can go a long way in an attorney-client setting. This does not mean sticking to polite formalities, but rather it means showing a sincere interest in the client, or attorney, as a person. Additionally, business courtesy, such as being on time for appointments and meeting deadlines, help to maintain a client’s confidence, and helps to keep the attorney comfortable. There will always be situations where schedules change, and when they do, it is best to inform the client, or counsel, as early as possible and explain the reason for delay. Explaining the reasons for change provides the other individual with a feeling of partnership in a common endeavor. With that in mind, it is important for the attorney to set realistic deadlines and budgets so thatpromises made to the client can be delivered. Meeting these promises will allow the client to find the attorney reliable and trustworthy – both of which are necessary for a healthy attorney-client relationship.
Further concerning budgets, part of being professional is being efficient with each dollar. Large clients and cases may have seemingly unlimited budgets, but the clients will be much more satisfied when representation remains focused on central issues and does not inefficiently pursue minor or ancillary issues. The same consideration for the budget of clients applies to expenses – not surprisingly, even large clients are much more content with a conservative rather than liberal approach to expensing. One area where this may come up is with travel expenses. Travel considerations should be given careful consideration, and is a topic that should be discussed with the client.
b)Establish a conferencing schedule
Maintaining regular and frequent communication during the course of representation keeps both the client and lawyer on the same page concerning all developments, and allows both parties to stay up to date on the agenda and issues. Setting up a conference schedule early in the representation assures that both attorney and client will be kept in the loop. It also serves to keep both parties on par with how responsibilities and tasks have been delegated, and of progress along the way.
One convenient form of conference scheduling is weekly telephone calls. Weekly conference calls serve to keep the client up to date as to legal developments (e.g., via status reports), give the attorney a forum to discuss future events, and serves as a regular strategy session. If there has been little activity on a matter during a particular time period, this is also an opportunity to discuss the client’s satisfaction with the representation, and to get advice on how the attorney can adjust representation to better reflect the client’s wishes.
Weekly conference calls should include all members of the legal team, and all appropriate members of the client’s team. This promotes comfort between all team members on both the client and attorney side and is useful because the various team members will be communicating with each other during the course ofthe relationship. Of particular importance is that the meetings be run by the attorney who was hired by the client. Clients are often frustrated when the attorney engaging them on the matter changes during representation, or when they hire a senior partner but find themselves represented primarily by associates. One common complaint from clients is that they do not hear from the senior partner who was hired except during important events, such as hearings.
Another common source of discomfort is when the composition of the legal team fluctuates over the course of representation. If possible, avoid transferring attorneys on and off the matter. The initial team, which was selected to best meet the client’s needs, should remain engaged with the project throughout, and should participate in the weekly meetings. This can be difficult to accommodate as firm staffing demands change, but the client will appreciate the sense of normalcy and security that naturally comes with having a familiar team on hand, comprised of attorneys who are all equally familiar with the matter.
Additionally, an agenda for the weekly conference calls should be distributed ahead of time. Circulating an agenda in advance of the weekly conference calls ensures that everyone participating has the opportunity to prepare beforehand and to engage in discussion of the issues. It also gives team members the chance to supplement or edit the agenda to accommodate new developments.
One additional piece of advice for facilitating smooth and frequent communications with the client is to staff matters out of a single office. Not only does this minimize complications for holding the regular meetings, but it can simplify communications to and from the client. The overall result is an improvement in efficiency, and less chance of a frustrated client.
c)Attorneys: Keep clients involved in the key legal decisions.
The client is technically the decision-maker, although in practice, clients may pass a good portion of this responsibility to the attorneys. While this can be convenient, especially for busy clients, it does pose a risk that some decisions will not perfectly match the client’s interests. When that happens, clients invariably are frustrated at not having been included in the decision-making process. To minimize the risk of this happening, try to identify those issues that could instigate such response, and be sure to engage the client in those decisions. A little bit of extra time communicating between the parties can relieve a good deal of frustration and unnecessary communication down the road. This is another topic that is best discussed early in the representation to ensure the attorney and client have similar expectations.
One important way to keep the client adequately engaged in the decision making process is to discuss strategy and points in advance of drafting any important or sizeable briefs. This gives them an opportunity to provide input before the format and substance of the brief has been established and before there is a time crunch. On that note, it is also ideal to provide the client with a draft of any large brief enough in advance for the client to be able to digest it and provide substantive comments.
d)Be available
One simple way to put clients at ease is for a member of the legal teamto be reachable by the client at all times. These days, the Blackberry allows continuous connectivity for email, but the additional step of providing a cell phone or home phone number is a simple way to set an anxious client at ease. Some clients will want the senior attorney who was hired to be available, rather than an associate. Along the same lines, many clients prefer being able to contact, and being contacted by, the same individual each time, rather than different members of the legal team.
Being available, however, means more than simply receiving messages – it means being responsive. Failure by an attorney to promptly respond to a client’s inquiry can be a large source of discontent. A delay in responding can convey to the client that that client’s need is not a priority to the attorney, or that the attorney is avoiding giving the client a negative status report. Even if there is nothing significant to report on the case, and the attorney is busy taking care of pressing matters for other clients, it is a good practice to promptlyreturn emails, phone calls and requests to set the client at ease and avoid any misinterpretation.
Email poses an additional issue worth addressing early in the representation: when a client and lawyer send an email, each party assumes that the other party has read it as soon as it is sent. But if no prompt response is sent, the sender may wonder if it was ever received. To avoid this situation, and the concern that it may cause, one suggestion is to establish an email response policy at the outset of representation.
e)Be well-prepared and proactive
Many positive results flow from thorough case preparation. One of the most beneficial results of being well-prepared, from the perspective of client satisfaction, is improved accuracy of advising and predictions. Clients will return to the attorneys who are adept at “reading the tea leaves.” A corollary to this is that clients will not return to the attorney with whom they have repeated surprises.
Another direct result of thorough preparation is an improvement in the quality of the written work. Clear, well-written briefsthat highlight winning arguments and do not waste space on losing arguments should be the end-goal of any legal team. Along related lines, briefs that are written primarily by associates should be carefully edited by the partner(s) in charge before being distributed to the client.
It is also very helpful to the attorney-client relationship for the attorney to be proactive. For example, when dealing with a familiar issue, attorneys have a tendency to proceed along familiar paths and to avoid unfamiliar alternatives. This inherently limits the options that the client is able to consider even though the attorney may be most comfortable sticking to routine. It is in the attorney’s interest to at least propose constructive and creative solutions. At the level of client relations, taking initiative in such a way is indicative of both thoroughness and a sincere interest in the needs of the client. At the level of legal strategy, researching new approaches can stimulate additional new ideas – setting off a chain reaction of innovation. The result of such research may be a new legal strategythat has merit. At the heart of this suggestion is the goal of adding value to the client’s case over what was brought to the attorney initially by the client. Even with a legally sophisticated client such as experienced in-house counsel, at the end of representation, the strategy or proof should be better off because of the legal representation.
Along similar lines, if the law changes, the team should be ready and willing to alter the legal strategy. The more aware the attorneys are of conflicting jurisprudence relevant to the case, the easier they will be able to adapt to such adjustments to relevant legal rules or standards.
When proposing various options to the client, an attorney should be sure to give the client enough time to provide meaningful input – this becomes all the more important when some of the options are novel. If the client decides to pursue a route of action, but that action is outside of the attorney’s comfort zone, the client will be more willing to listen to the legal assessment if it is clear that the attorney has considered the options fully.
Conclusion
Each of the principles and suggestions outlined in this paper – communicating effectively and maintaining a healthy attorney-client relationship – may seem obvious. It is, however, not always simple to incorporate these practices into an everyday routine. Most attorneys overlook the importance of making client relations a central focus of their daily planning, but it is that focus that separates the attorneys with stellar client relations from the rest of the crowd. All of these guidelines will help the attorney serve the client zealously and professionally.