The National Creditors Bar Association Law Practice Management Blog

Many lawyers view client communications as bothersome.  An interruption from the important work of lawyering.  Of course, that work is being done  for  clients; so, it’s important that they know what’s going on, right?  But, this isn’t just a one way street.  In fact, lawyers derive lots of benefits from staying in touch with their clients.  So, let’s address three of those . . .   Reduce Malpractice Risk.   Lawyers might presume that they know their own cases better than anyone.  Not true.  Attorneys who, for example, try to manage conflict checks in their head ,  would be well-served to use software to manage client and related party contacts.  In a similar vein, no one has lived inside of any legal case, especially a fact-based one, better than the client.   That means that it’s important to stay in touch with your clients – because you never know what they might rediscover about a case you thought...

Law firms work vigorously to convert leads: to get those leads to pay retainers and sign engagement agreements.  That all makes sense: winning business is essential for any organization.   However, once law firms convert clients, there is often a dry spell before the new client s  hear from their new law firms again; and, because many cases start with potentially significant periods before anything of note  actually  happens, new clients may go for months, or even a year, before they hear from their lawyer again.   This paucity of response is one of the reasons that  law firms have a bad reputation for customer service .  Keep in mind that , while you deal with the legal field every working day of your life,  for many of your clients, it will be the first (and potentially only) time   they ever have an interaction with the legal system .  So, it’s essential to keep them informed of what’s going on, even if you kno...