A Page from CLE
June, 2006
Tips On Client Management, Marketing Your Practice, Managing Client Expectations, Time Management and Productivity
The following excerpt is taken from a recent presentation and paper prepared by Gary S. Farb, Clark Farb Fiksel, titled "Tips On Client Management, Marketing Your Practice, Managing Client Expectations, Time Management and Productivity". This paper was prepared for the Solo and Small Firm Conference and Expo, held on May 12, 2006, by the Law Society of Upper Canada and the Ontario Bar Association. The Conference provided lawyers with an opportunity to improve their skills, update their knowledge, sample innovative legal support products, and connect with solo and small firm lawyers from across the province.
Gary Farb's paper provides practical information and suggestions to ensure that lawyers are effectively serving their clients. The paper discusses how a lawyer can move quickly and efficiently in concert with the client's business directive to ensure that his or her services are always in demand.
The Crucial Role of Communication In Providing
Client Service
The most common complaint clients have about their lawyers is their
notorious failure to respond to telephone calls, letters or faxes. A
client who is anxious and upset about his or her legal problem expects
immediate replies particularly in this age of modern technological
advances such as email. Almost instantaneous communications are not only
possible, many clients expect them.
If you promise to communicate something to your client and forget or neglect to do it on time or at all, the client becomes worried and uncertain about what is happening. Remember for the client their problem is extraordinarily important and your failure to respond in a timely manner leaves them feeling ignored or worse, uncared for.
Discuss how you will communicate with each other
As part of my standard retainer conversation with my clients I let
them know that they can expect me to return phone calls the same day or
if the call comes in very late in the day or I am not available, to
expect someone from my office to call that day or no later that the next
morning. At the same time I ask my clients for a preferred method by
which I can communicate with them e.g. email or fax or telephone
messages.
Be detail oriented on your communication protocol
Be as detailed as you can with respect to whether you are able to leave
messages on the client's answering machine or whether the client prefers
to be contacted at work or after hours, and between what hours is an
actual conversation most likely to occur.
If you are inclined to rely on your voicemail because heavy commitments take you out of your office during the day make sure that you set the time limits on your voice mail to an appropriate length. Some lawyers' voicemail will cut off after two minutes (like mine) and others will run up to ten. It is important that you let your client know whether detailed messages may be left for you and when they can expect you to return their call. I also indicate how often I retrieve and return voicemail messages.
It is a good practice, if you can manage it, to return phone calls at a particular time in the day or at the end of the day. If you are unable to respond personally to the matter then have an assistant or another lawyer call on your behalf. Again these protocols can be covered during your initial retainer meeting with the client.
Keeping the Client Informed
If you remember that we are in a service industry then it won't be
difficult to keep in mind that clients want and have a right to be
informed ongoingly about what is happening in their file or their case.
Telling a client what is happening with their file does not have to be an onerous task. For example, all correspondence pertaining to the file that is being sent on behalf of the client should be copied to the client. Wherever and whenever possible confirm any oral instructions from your client by writing a follow-up letter.
Again at the initial retainer meeting explain your protocols for keeping the client informed.
The other side of the coin is that clients have to communicate their instructions to you. It is important to be clear with the client that instructions are expected to be provided at various stages of the legal process and that any delay on their part in giving you those instructions affects your timelines. Similarly, if there are any new developments that could affect your case about which the client becomes aware let them know that they must communicate that to you in a timely fashion.
Dealing with the cost of your services, it is surprising how often solicitor negligence or other dissatisfaction with a lawyer's services is alleged as a way of disguising the client's unhappiness with the amount that has been charged for your services. Communicating at the initial retainer meeting how and what will be billed and the billing process is absolutely essential. Be straight about your fee structure including your hourly rates and the practice of lawyers generally billing in tenths of an hour. Ask them whether they prefer to be billed monthly, quarterly or at discreet points in the files progress, for example in a litigation file at the close of pleadings.
In all circumstances I recommend providing your client with a written retainer agreement or written confirmation of your billing and payment policies.
In any file where you have not given an estimate or are about to exceed the estimate it is important to remind the client as often as possible that fees are escalating. One way of doing this is to send the client interim bills, if appropriate, or a work in progress report.
When rendering a bill consider the bill you get in the supermarket. It is an itemised bill: describing the quantity, type of product and the price of the product. Insure your bill is complete and indicates what transpired, on what date the service was provided, who provided the service, when and what was accomplished and the time spent. Wherever possible avoid communicating your fees and disbursements in a block format.
The content on A Page from CLE represents the views and opinions of CLE program presenters and does not constitute legal advice, the views of their respective employers or the position of the Law Society of Upper Canada.