I get it. There isn’t much in the way of available down time in a typical attorney’s day. There may be hearings, client appointments, unexpected calls, morning mail, never ending email, a Rotary luncheon, attorney meetings, staff questions, and computer problems. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention a need to also get to the actual work that needs to be done on your client matters. There never seems to be enough time, does there. Then, to top it all off, you also hear from those close to you that they need and want time and finally guys like me tell you to remember to take care of yourself. When will the madness end! I do get it; but, and you knew this was coming, there’s a rub. One result of this reality can be that attention to certain seemingly minor details can fall by the wayside and that may not be something you want to have happen.

The kinds of details that I am referring to are those that are all too easy to overlook. They are details of presentation and interaction as opposed to substantive law missteps. I’m referring to things like allowing an incorrect bill to go out, forgetting about a client appointment, sending a letter to a client with the client’s name misspelled because the name was entered into the firm’s contact database incorrectly, or breaking a promise to have work completed by a certain time.

Are these kinds of oversights cause for concern when they happen? Don’t clients understand just how busy attorneys are? I will admit that I am not aware of any malpractice claims or disciplinary matters that arose due to a misspelled surname on an envelope. But this isn’t about malpractice. It’s about getting and keeping good clients, so from this perspective I do view these presentation and interaction issues as important.

Consider this. As a malpractice insurance company, ALPS is a significant consumer of legal services. Would we not be remiss if we failed to review the bills submitted to us for payment? Well, reviewed they are. We have come across billing errors such as overcharges, personal expenses that had no business ever being submitted on an attorney’s bill, and charges for work done on files that had nothing to do with us. We also find that with some files the bills come in on an infrequent basis, and when they finally do, they can be for a sum that was much more than what was expected. Put yourself in our shoes. How would you respond to all this? I can tell you that our response is often one of concern. We start to think things like this. If the bills contain errors, should we be concerned about the quality of the legal work that is being done? Because the bills come in so infrequently, is our legal matter being similarly ignored? In short, trust starts to come into question and can begin to erode if the attorney or the firm fails to address the situation, and quickly. Further, if not rectified, we will eventually take our work elsewhere all due to an apparent inattention to business details by someone we retained to provide professional services. It boils down to this. We didn’t get our money’s worth.

Now put yourselves in your client’s shoes. How would you respond if your name was continuously misspelled in correspondence, you were repeatedly kept waiting for appointments, had a history of receiving infrequent bills or bills with errors, a history of having work completed past promised due dates, had your name forgotten on several occasions, found that your attorney repeatedly interrupted client time in order to answer phone calls or to respond to staff? The message is going to be pretty clear, is it not? When it comes to what’s important to your attorney, well let’s just say that while your matter might be, you aren’t. Of course, this may not be the message that any attorney ever intends to send, but that’s the message that can come across regardless. Yes, oversights and interruptions will happen and explanations can help. Clients will often forgive and forget. Trust me, I can still laugh when my last name gets misspelled or mispronounced at times; but with a pattern of carelessness or personal inattention that never gets addressed I may not be so inclined. Would you?

I have heard it said that personal attention and reliability are fundamental to finding success as a practicing attorney. The success I’m referring to however is not in reference to how many legal wins one might accrue. It is in reference to succeeding on the business side. It’s an attorney finding success in establishing and maintaining strong client relationships that foster the creation of trust and help build confidence in the attorney. The trick to getting there is in doing all you can to see that your clients believe that both their legal matter and who they are as a person matter.

I can understand that finding the time and energy to go that extra step to pay attention to some of these presentation and interaction details we’ve been discussing can be hard to find at times. The kinds of things I’m talking about are just so easy to let slip; but personally I believe the effort is worth it. Look at it as making a long-term investment in people which can and will bring in additional business over time. Take pride in knowing that you’re giving your all and trust that the proper message will come across to those you work for and that they will value receiving it. Again, if you were the client, wouldn’t you?