Today we’re starting a new series on FI for the People. Because I apparently like a good blog series, having started one here and here.
This series will focus on lawyers and law firms and some of the head-scratching things they do that — this, after all, being a blog purportedly on finances — are hurting their individual bottom line, as well as their firms’.
Are you talkin’ to me?
We’ll start with something that shouldn’t be an issue for lawyers and law firms at all: communication. Lawyers are in the business of communicating. Briefs, motions, oral arguments, contracts, handbooks, patent applications, etc. They’re all communications that require forethought and clarity.
But then there’s other communications: with client contacts/stakeholders, vendors, and other lawyers and staff at the law firm or company where the lawyer works. Having worked in or with law firms for a long time, I’ve found that, by and large, attorneys suuucccckkkk at this need some improvement here.
This frequent failure to communicate — whether it’s responding to a request or proactively providing a status report — smacks of disrespect, narcissism, and/or a lack of organization or ability to prioritize by the lawyer. And. It. Is. Exasperating. On a personal level, this will absolutely be one of the reasons I leave the legal industry. I’m 100% sure that many others share this sentiment.
Granted, I’ve just been a law firm staff person and a service provider to attorneys and firms. So you could say that because time spent communicating with me is nonbillable and so not as important as billable communications. Nonsense.
What I do for attorneys and firms will, if done collaboratively and well, make them money. There’s a clear financial reason for attorneys to help people like me help them.
Money talks
Dear Reader, you may think that I’m holding some sort of grudge or bias. I’m not. But, for the sake of argument, let’s take my subjective opinions out of the equation. What of communications with others?
Well, as to other law firm/company staff and vendors, I think to a person they all have had the same experience as I have. To. A. Person. Don’t believe me? Ask one. I dare you.
The effect of this? It makes the firm/company less efficient. A staff person or vendor having to spend time following up (and, too often, having to follow up multiple times) — something probably appropriate to do for a child, but not for a grown, well-educated professional — means that he or she isn’t spending time on more productive and/or creative things. That costs the lawyers and the firm/company real money.
Here’s another probably not-so-secret secret: the noncommuncation extends to fellow lawyers in the firm. Probably not so much with the rainmaking or otherwise powerful partners, but absolutely with almost all other attorneys. That makes those fellow lawyers less efficient and unnecessarily costs clients money (and thus very likely upsetting the client) or a wholly unnecessary write-off by the firm.
But perhaps most importantly, it extends to communication with client/customer contacts, which makes for much less effective legal service and — far too often — justifiably furious clients. This can result in the client firing the attorney/firm. And, if you ask me, getting fired for poor communication is something that should — absent the most extenuating circumstances — never happen. Ever.
If a lawyer or firm gets fired for avoidable poor communication, they likely deserved it. I have no sympathy for the attorney or firm. Oh, and as a bonus, the client also might lodge an ethics complaint against the lawyer and firm for poor communication.
If you’re an attorney reading this, thank you for being among the 1s of readers! and are one of these offenders, you’re likely infuriating a whole host of people. Don’t be surprised if those people don’t “give it 110%” when you need them to. Plan on doing an end run to address that? Might work short term, but a veteran of the legal industry — staff person, vendor, fellow attorney, or client — will know how to ensure payback and keep their hands clean. You may not even know that the payback has been delivered. Until you do.
And you’re hurting your and your firm’s/company’s bottom line. Beware. Businesses being in the making-money game after all, that may come back to bite you at a time and in a way you cannot predict.
If you’re a consumer of legal services, thank you for being among the 1s of readers! I hope I’ve raised your blood pressure.
Solutions? There are many. But you could do a lot worse than regularly holding lawyers’/law firms’ feet to the fire from the outset of the relationship. You have way more leverage than even you might think. Because, Dear Reader, one of the other things I’ve learned from working with lawyers is that they fear getting fired by their clients or firms/businesses. To an irrational degree. “Petrified” would be a better way to say it. This, of course, makes their poor communication all the more dumbfounding. Stupid in fact.
Oh, and there’s the little matter of it being a buyer’s market for most legal services these days. Finding a perfectly suitable replacement for your legal service provider shouldn’t be hard. Of course, getting a replacement who communicates better than the lawyer you fired may be a challenge.
You, Mr. or Ms. Client have leverage. Lots of it. Be fair, but use it.
Dear Reader — well, at least the lawyers amongst you — hopefully you are neither a poor communicator nor an ineffective one.
