I’ve posted quite a bit on the importance of retainer letters, here and here, but not as much on a declination letter which informs prospective clients that you’ve declined to take their case. This post from Day on Torts discusses the perils of misinforming clients about the applicable statute of limitations in a declination
Client Relations
Sometimes Lawyers Tell Clients To Lie, Sometimes Clients Say Lawyers Made Them Lie
This piece, Tri-Cities Lawyer Arrested for Contempt (November 30, 2005), reports on a lawyer arrested for contempt for pressuring his client to lie at trial. The laywyer was caught when the client presented the judge with the email exchanges documenting the lawyer’s advice to the client to lie – and her response that “I
understand…
Why You Should Listen to Your Clients
Many lawyers tend to complain when our clients try to play to lawyer. These lawyers either feel as if the client is trying to usurp of exclusive domain or simply don’t want to take the time to explain why the law doesn’t work as the client believes it does. Yet as this article, Court: NY…
Would You Fire A Client Who Doesn’t Take Your Advice? Here’s What Doctors Are Doing…
What do you do when a client consistently refuses to take your advice? It’s a knotty problem for many lawyers as to whether they should keep those disagreeing clients and try to bring them around or simply dump them. This article, Feuding Over Vaccines, (Sandra G. Boodman, Washington Post, November 8, 2005) discusses how…
The Rich Now Prefer the Small
We frequently associate solo and small firm practice as populated with small clients who can’t pay the bills. But that’s not so, at least according to this recent article, Petra Pasternak, NY Lawyer (11/7/05). As the article reports (and not surprisingly), a recent study by Worth Magazine found that wealthy clients are “migrating…to smaller…
Practicing Law on a Full Stomach
This month’s issue of GP Solo has a great article, If Esq. Ain’t Happy, Ain’t Nobody Happy by Robin Page West (who I wrote about in The Accidental Practice). The article makes the point that our clients need us lawyers as much for emotional support as for legal expertise – and if that unless…
If Clients Can Grieve and Tell, Lawyers Should Be Able to Also
David Giacalone of f/k/a has this post about a New Jersey Supreme Court ruling reversing a gag rule on those who file ethics complaints against lawyers. (more details from this Star Ledger article (10/20/05) here.) Under the old rule, clients who filed grievances couldn’t discuss them publicly but now they can even though many…
Face Time Still Matters
Quick tip from the Legal Marketing Blog: even in a high tech, remote access world, face time with clients still matters.
To Disclose or Not to Disclose, That Is the Question
This article, Is Mandatory Disclosure of Malpractice Coverage a Good Idea? Ann Sherman, Small Firm Business (9/19/05) writes about the debate over mandatory malpractice disclosure rules taking place before many state bars across the country. Below from the article is an excellent summary of the pros and cons of mandatory disclosure from Bob Weldon of…
Do You Recognize Any of These Clients?
Greatest American Lawyer has at least two posts, here and here on problem clients. Do you recognize any of those identified as your own? And what are you going to do about it?