I recently broke the Cardinal Rule of accepting new clients: I sat there and listened to this guy go on and on about how poorly he thought of his previous attorneys, and I still let him hire me.

Why on earth would I do that?

Usually I would have run. The rationale for never taking on a client that complains about his previous lawyer is simply that you will be the next lawyer about whom he will complain. Unsatisfiable, always looking for a better deal or a better outcome, the complainer is the prototypical bad client.

Worse yet, my client was complaining about some pretty big-name lawyers in this town. People I have known for years. People I admire and respect. People I would dread seeing as opposing counsel. Big lawyers from esteemed Big Law firms. He wasn’t just name dropping, though – he was dishing up some serious dirt on what exactly they had all done wrong that got them fired by my client.

So why did I fall for it? Am I that hard-up for clients? Nope, not at all. There were two big reasons:

1. He is CEO of a fairly large and very reputable business, and he has seen his share of bad business deals and lousy lawyering; and
2. He was right to fire them.

One lawyer was super dynamic and supposed to be an amazing litigator. But she did not listen to him when he told her what he wanted in settlement.

One was one of the top IP lawyers in town. But he didn’t listen to what my client had to say about his product or even bother to read up on the product, to the material detriment of the case.

A third one was a respected, often revered, senior member of the bar whom my client mostly respected. But he did not listen to my client about some business contracts and nearly blew a deal.

Notice a theme?

As lawyers, we are so used to being the smartest person in the room that we don’t generally have to listen all that hard to know what’s going on. Worse still, we are a bunch of people who love to talk. Talking is not conducive to listening. Moreover, the time constraints we are under don’t exactly afford us the luxury of really listening, especially to our clients. When you’ve got your day meted out in 6-minute increments, scheduled to the second, it can be difficult to find the time to shut up and really pay attention to someone else.

Try this trick the next time you are on the phone with opposing counsel. Just let them talk. This drives them crazy because lawyers hate silence, so they are likely to fill the void with their own voices. You can learn a lot about the opposing party’s case that way. Once, I had opposing counsel talk himself into settling a case. I  just stayed quiet and let him talk through it.

Try the same trick with your clients sometime. Let them just talk. I’m not talking crazy rambling or an unfocused monologue. I’m talking about getting the conversation moving where you want it to go and then shutting up. Really listening. It’s amazing what you can learn.

I took on this client after letting him talk for for almost two hours. I mostly just listened. I know he was testing me, seeing if I was any different from his previous lawyers. And maybe I’m not. Maybe he’ll be complaining about me to the next lawyer he hires. I don’t know.

I know that I listened to him. I know that he at least was heard. If he complains about me, it won’t be because I did not listen. And I am (somewhat) flattered to have gotten the job.

I’ll keep you posted!