About the Author Dr. Joni Johnston is President and CEO of UnbeatableLawyers, a training and consulting firm that helps attorneys evaluate workplace behavior problems, gain an edge with juries in employment litigation, and promote effective law firm management. She can be reached at jonij@workrelationships.com

In reality, most clients base their evaluation of the lawyer on what they personally experience in the relationship — what she sees you do, what she hears you say, and how she feels in the process. Clients frequently sue their lawyers because they dislike how they were treated (or ignored) by their lawyer, not because they were unhappy with the legal work. In this article, let's take a look at the sure-fire ways to create unhappy — and litigation-prone — clients and some client management aids that can keep you from having to do a little lawyer-shopping of your own.

#1: View your client's emotions as annoying interruptions.

You can't separate out your client's emotions from the legal issues at hand any more than you can successfully walk on one leg. But how can you create a successful emotional outcome if you don't know how your client is feeling, what success would look like, and what his or her hot buttons are? If you're too busy focusing on the legal aspects of the client's story and asking technical questions you'll miss the subtle, personal issues that are important to the client.

For example, in an employment-related matter, is the client more concerned about an expedited conclusion than a fair and just resolution? Does he want to avoid publicity at all costs? Does he have an all-or-nothing approach to the matter? You don't have a chance of satisfying the client if you can't identify his or her endgame.

A physician-patient communication model developed by the Bayer Institute for Health Care Communication illustrates the importance of addressing feelings before facts. The "4E" model uses the approach of engage, empathize, educate, and enlist for obtaining information and furthering the relationship. By encouraging, reflecting, restating, and summarizing your client's position before you launch into a legal summary of strategy session, you demonstrate that you are listening intently and allow her to correct any misperceptions you might have. And, you minimize the desire to resolve future problems through contentious lawsuits.

Client Management Aids

• At the initial meeting with the client, allow her to tell her story from start to finish without interruption. Summarize your understanding of the key issues surrounding his or her problem - to your client's satisfaction- before offering a single piece of legal advice.


• End each conversation with the client by soliciting questions: "Is there anything else you would like to ask me or have explained in greater detail?" This simple practice lets the client know that she is not just a number and that you're willing to spend whatever time it takes to give her a sense of comfort. .


• When bad things happen, give the client the news "early and often." Doing so is required by the Rules of Professional Conduct (see, e.g., Rule1.4) but it also tells your client that you're honest, and makes it less likely that the client will be shocked by a sub-optimal outcome. .

#2. Use the Scarlet O'Hara approach to client service.

Tomorrow may be another day, but the longer you wait, the harder it is to give good client service. As unfair as it sounds, client satisfaction isn't always measured by the effort, time and energy you put into a case; it's what the client gets out of it. Pile on enough minor issues that aggravate and annoy clients — extended waits, mishandling of scheduled appointments, over-booked cancellations — and your client may be prone to sue at the first provocation.

This is especially true with needy or angry clients. Lawyers often ignore the client who calls frequently, praying that he'll miraculously disappear or give up. He won't. When it comes to telephone calls, demanding clients are like crying babies. The more they are ignored, the louder they cry.

The client who is angry — with his lawyer, about the attention he is not receiving, or about a legal motion — is a lawsuit waiting to happen. You, not your paralegal, are in the best position to defuse the client's anger. One of the worst mistakes an attorney can make when dealing with an angry client is to avoid him. When faced with someone who is upset or angry, it may be prudent to remain silent and allow that person to talk about the problem. Any person confronted by an angry, complaining client is likely to feel personally affronted. In those moments, one's natural tendency is to become defensive or hostile. This is especially true when the complaint is unwarranted. While the easiest and most natural reaction is to strike back, the better practice is to avoid fighting words, listen without interruption, avoid becoming defensive, express empathy, ask questions, determine what the client wants, explain what can and cannot be done, and discuss alternatives.

Client Management Aids

• Every day pick two or three annoying little matters you've been avoiding and take care of them before you leave the office. If you try to tackle too much, you'll become overwhelmed and quit before you start.


• Handle the file you dread the most first and get rid of those "dogs" you're currently neglecting. It's the ugliest files that usually get pushed to the side.


• Return every telephone call by the end of the day, if not sooner. Whether you send the client an e-mail response, leave a voice-mail message, or have your secretary return the call, the client should not have to wait for a response - even if you're merely informing the client that you'll be tied up the next few days with a trial or a closing.


• Ask your legal assistant to identify the one issue with clients that takes up the most of their time. Then ask them to prepare a written document that provides clients with the information they need in that situation.

#3: Rely on your client's memory (or, for that matter, your own).

You and your client agree that you will pursue her workers' compensation claim, but forego a potential products liability claim because it seems unlikely to succeed. After the statute of imitations runs, however, your client sues you for malpractice, alleging that you failed to file the products claim. Or, say your divorce client rejects your advice to obtain a valuation of his wife's business. A year after the divorce, when he sees her driving around town in a new Explorer while his beat-up Volkswagen is in the shop (again) for repair, it might be tough for him to remember that advice.

Had you written a confirming letter, you not only would have been able to mount a successful defense, but you probably would have avoided the claim in the first place. Written documentation is especially critical when a client's decision is against her best interest or contrary to your advice. Moreover, your letter might cause him to reconsider his original decision. For some people, it's not real if it's not in black and white.

This includes lawyers. You may have the memory of an elephant but, in the midst of the myriad of legal motions and wailing clients, it can be all too easy to miss deadlines or double-book appointments. Given that missed deadlines account for 20 percent of all legal malpractice claims, it pays to have back-up systems to advise you when critical issues are coming to a head.

Client Management Aids
At the conclusion of the case, you need to provide your client with a "closing" letter. In that written communication, summarize what you did for the client and how the case ended. As part of the closing process, provide the client with: 1) all of the closing documents (release, order of dismissal, etc.); and 2) information regarding your file destruction procedures. It is important to end the attorney-client relationship as professionally as it started.

• Show your care with paper. Confirm all major client decisions in writing - settlement offers, responses, etc. Send your client a copy of all correspondence and material relating to her matter is one of the easiest, least expensive and most efficient ways of keeping her informed and staying in touch. If you're worried that each mailing will generate a call from the client, attach a cover note that reads "For your information only. No response required."


• Have a dual calendaring system, with your paralegal or secretary in charge of one and you carrying a duplicate. E. Have your secretary pull each file as it comes up on your calendar. Every Monday, close your door and review those files to determine whether you have taken any action in the past 60 days.


• Printout those e-mails (both out-going and in-coming), organize them chronologically, and keep them in the client's file. Pleadings in one file, expert reports in another, notes and correspondence in a third, etc. Be able to reconstruct what you were doing and thinking at any given point in the case.

#4: Whisper into your client's "happy ears."

Sales managers have learned the hard way that their sales associates tend to be overly optimistic in forecasting future sales and routinely adjust the predicted numbers downward. The same can be true for legal clients, especially when their attorney falls prey to the temptation to come on like Super Lawyer. Once you say that the matter will be dismissed on summary judgment, take six months, or cost the client $5,000, the client will be disappointed with anything less. If you must give estimates, do so thoughtfully and conservatively.

Understandably, attorneys are often reluctant to tell clients the weaknesses in their legal positions. It's hard to tell a sick client that, statistically speaking, her odds of winning a medical malpractice claim are less than 50/50. However, a dose of realism up front can better prepare the client for an adverse judgment and less likely to blame the representing lawyer. Never forget that client satisfaction is the difference between what the client expected and what s/he gets.

It is possible to set realistic expectations without sabotaging their confidence in you. A statement like, "Don't worry about a thing. I've taken care of a hundred cases like yours and we always get summary judgment" is a set up for failure. You're much better of instilling confidence by going the extra mile to educate, inform and explain the process than to make an off-the-cuff prediction about outcomes.

Client Management Aids

• At the beginning of the attorney-client relationship, tell the client what you will do on the client's behalf and, equally important, what you are unwilling to undertake. Once an agreement regarding the scope of the representation is reached, confirm the details of your relationship in writing.


• Discuss fee arrangements at the outset and communicate any changes or additions as they arise. Make sure all financial arrangements are confirmed in writing.


• Evaluate your client's expectations at the beginning of the relationship. If you can't adjust the client's expectations to something more realistic, you may have to turn the client away.


• Explain the legal process to your client, including all of the steps involved: "We'll start by filing a complaint, and then the other side will have 28 days to respond..." At the outset of the retainer, provide each client with a checklist or standard form letter outlining the steps that must be undertaken to complete the matter. This tells the client just how much is involved in completing the matter at hand.

#5. Relive "high school" through your law practice.

Okay, maybe in high school, we were all singularly impressed by the most popular girl or boy. Lack of availability only increased his or her desirability. Name-dropping was cool, "code" language signaled you were in the inner circle, and putting down others was an unfortunate yet routine way of jostling for social position.

High school is over. Clients aren't impressed by your overwhelming caseload; in fact, every client secretly expects your entire practice to revolve around him or her. Routinely interrupting meetings or telephone calls with one client to take a call from another client or counsel leaves the former feeling as if you value another client's matter more than hers. And just as clients want you to be physically available, they also want you to speak in a language they understand. Impress your client with your legal knowledge, your ability to get favorable results and your hard work - not your legalisms.

The same is true with your "connections." Certainly, being a familiar face and having local knowledge of how the system operates are advantages to consider when hiring an attorney. However, some lawyers leave the impression that they have a special connection that permits them to get dramatic results. The lawyer who suggests that his local knowledge extends to some extra power of "persuasion" is walking on thin ice; intentionally or not, it may imply that s/he is willing to skirt the ethical boundaries to get the "ends" s/he wants. When the client loses, s/he may start to wonder what other ethical or legal issues the lawyer "skirted." Similarly, avoid statements comparing your services with those of another attorney; let your qualifications stand on their own merit.

Client Management Aids

• Train staff to distinguish the calls that are true emergencies from those that can wait another 30 minutes. Clients will understand the occasional interruption as long as it's not routine.


• Periodically communicate with your client periodically regarding status and progress, even if it's to let them know that you are in a holding pattern. Always make sure you discuss with the client the risks involved in litigation decisions that are made as the case develops, providing a realistic evaluation of the case.


• Always strive to make the client feel make your client feel both comfortable and confident by being attentive, respectful, and tactful. A lawyer need not instill fear or anxiety in the relationship to maintain respect for himself or the profession.

The Bottom Line
Numerous studies show that patients don't sue doctors they like and trust, even when they have experienced considerable injury as a result of a "medical mistake" or misjudgment. The same is true for legal clients. While you can't always control the legal outcome for your client, you have tremendous influence over the emotional outcome of the attorney-client relationship. Leave each and every client with the strong sense that you care both about the quality of the legal services being rendered and the client to whom the care is being given. It's the best malpractice insurance there is.

Copyright 2005 Joni L. Johnston.