A new, ABA Formal Opinion 8-451 (August 5th), states the obvious: A lawyer may, but is responsible for, outsource work to lawyers and non-lawyers support appropriate to represent the interests of his/her client.
My frustration level has been exceeded! How about yours? Have you had dealings with vendors who fail to respond to your reasonable inquiries and requests? Have you had appointments (doctors and lawyers are the stereotypical examples) that have kept you waiting beyond the stated appointment time?
If you’re a lawyer or other professional reading this, think about how your clients feel in conducting their business with you. Read on for nuances of this issue.
Does more information become competitive intelligence … or just more information? Read Ann Lee Gibson at her new blog only if you want to learn more, i.e., become more intelligent! Congratulations to Ann for a great start.
Is the Virtual World real? It apparently has more “life” than I knew. Even the IRS is involved, recently ruling that independent, virtual contractors were, in reality, part-time employees for whom taxes needed to be withheld. What impact will this have on other “virtual businesses?” What impact will this ruling have on “virtual assistants?” Are they independent contractors, our assumption in the past, or employees, though at a distance?
Famous words. And the legal community is beginning to feel them.
Is there a connection between marketing department layoffs and associate layoffs?
In our Managing Partners Roundtable discussion this morning, we talked about the effect and value of surveys. Not enough law firms ask their clients "how am I doing?" Too often, marketing gurus suggest that written surveys be sent in the mail after a matter or litigation is concluded. I suggest that this is the wrong time … no matter what you learn from the responses (and in my experience, you won’t get many responses, probably not even a statistically valid amount), it’s after the fact. That means that you will not be able to salvage that client relationship if there is real dissatisfaction!
One of my clients taught me an important lesson: Send a short survey with the first billing. If there is anything wrong, it’s best to know at the beginning when you have time to correct any deficiency.
Most lawyers are reluctant to ask the question. They’re afraid of the answer. But, what better result could you get than to be told there is something that you can correct … and thereby strenghthen the relationship when you do. The client feels appreciated and heard … and recognizes that you care enough to ask and to make a change.
In larger firms, we concluded that it is very beneficial for the managing partner to periodically visit the top 10 clients of the firm. Even when I was in industry, the fact that I as CEO cared enough to visit a customer had a dramatic impact on our relationship and the buyer’s/customer’s goodwill toward us.
Bottom line, we don’t exist in a vacuum. We must understand and know the needs and wants of our clients … and what better way to find than to ask, directly. In addition, this process confirms that the relationship is between the client and the firm, not an individual lawyer in the firm.
Obviously, there was much more said this morning, but this concept caused the managing partners to vow to make changes in their firms. What are you prepared to do in your relationships?
I have now joined JDSupra. See my profile.
The organization is designed to gather documents used by one lawyer that the first lawyer is willing to share with another lawyer … this is a great way to find a starting point in a practice area in which you are not well versed. It may even be a great way to find a good format and content to use in your matter/case that someone else has used in another, similar matter.
Years ago, when practicing law and as chair of the Beverly Hills Bar Association’s Family Law Committee, I organized and chaired a stellar group of family law lawyers to create and edit a Bar/Bench book with forms that the trial judges were using in the Los Angeles Superior Court. It was called The Billy G. Mills Bench Book. Judge Mills, at the time, was the presiding judge of the Family Law Court. The joint effort produced an outstanding work that helped many lawyers address the concerns of the Bench for the benefit of clients.
Today, JDSupra is using technology to produce an even greater result for attorneys seeking the right form at the right time to be more efficient and avoid rifling through files to find that elusive document that they remember seeing, but just can’t find right now, the moment of need!
JDSupra will also introduce content that I will produce for law firm management. We hope to provide an ever broader platform to help lawyers become more effective with their clients, more efficient in the delivery of their legal services and more profitable for themselves, the objective of LawBiz Management.
Someone asked what I think of an attorney charging a client for work done while he/she is on vacation?
The comment, specifically, was: "Attorneys do need a vacation… what do you think about attorneys that (sic) file Notice of Unavailability and charge clients for work performed while on there (sic) vacation."
Wherever and whenever an attorney performs legal services, he/she should be able to charge for the work done so long as it is in compliance with the engagement agreement. There is normally no exception for work done for clients while on vacation or after "normal" business hours. So I don’t see any problem here, unless there is a subsidiary inference that the attorney is not truly working or working at a slower pace than would have been the case if he/she were elsewhere.
As an additional point, I believe (as I’ve said quite some time ago) that the attorney has the right to charge the client for preparing and filing (and even appearing in court thereon) the Notice of Unavailability. But for the notice, the attorney might have to spend much more time defending against notices/motions if the adversary takes advantage of the attorney’s absence on vacation …
Linda Kaplan was another leader who appeared at the National Speakers Association. She is a legendary marketing guru and founder of The Kaplan Thaler Group, a billion dollar advertising agency. Her book, The Power of Nice, is a best seller.
Unlike Leo Durocher’s famous statement that "nice guys finish last," she believes that "nice girls finish first." After all, she asserts, people like to buy from people they like … And we generally don’t like people who are not nice to us. Kaplan says it’s easier to be mean and gruff. It takes a special effort to be nice. Paraphrasing a saying my mother used so often, "You get more with honey than with vinegar."
This seems so obvious to me, but obviously is something that our profession finds so difficult to understand. Many Bars have adopted "Lawyer Civility Codes." Why should this even be needed? Quoting an infamous source, "Why can’t we all just get along?" Why is it that we need be rude and obnoxious to our adversaries? Do we truly believe that such conduct will win us points or cause our client’s position to be moved forward? On the contrary, such behavior often merely entrenches the opposition further. Being nice, courteous and kind requires neither that we be a doormat nor that we cave in to our adversary’s position … we can stand forthright to advocate our client’s interest and position, yet still be civil and nice.
Again paraphrasing, "Try it, you might like it." Certainly, there will be reduced stress all around.
P.S. This works with colleagues and staff as well.