The Gazette 1993

GAZETTE

P RAe TIC E

MANAGEMENT

A letter to my Solicitor

This month 'a client' outlines the

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level of communication he would like

- and

~xpe~ts

:- from his

soli~itor.

Dear Solicitor,

I am no fool ... I am your client and

your livelihood.

As a solicitor the first step I would

like you to take towards

communicating well with me is to

realise that I am not a "file" but a

person ... with anxieties and a certain

trepidation of things legal. The second

important point to note is that as the

client I am gaining the upper hand.

This is the age of consumerism; if I

can force the mighty banks and

insurance companies to become

consumer friendly, I can also do it to

the providers of legal services. I no

longer doff the cap or defer to my

local doctor or solicitor; I treat them

as business people and expect to be

treated as a paying customer.

So, I want you to give me a better

service ... to communicate with me

effectively and regularly. Poor

communication on simple matter can

have repercussion out of all

proportion to the matter at hand and

waste time and energy for both of us.

I do not know what is going on I

will become mistrustful and might

even assume bad practice. I will

certainly complain about you to my

friend (potential clients) and might

even complain to the Law Society.

You could avoid all of this by a

frie ndly and thorough initial

consultation or a simple letter or

telephone caJl which explains to me

what is happening and makes me feel

free to ask you questions.

I know legal matters are becoming

much more complex and thus more

difficult to explain to me. However, I

am also becoming much more

demanding and I want to be given a

full picture and to have a complete

understanding of the service you are

giving to me.

I know that every solicitor' nightmare

is the "time con uming" (and

normally, .slow paying) client that

expects him to be a soc ial worker as

well as everything el e. But there are

a number of rea ons why

communicating with me hould be

regarded as a good investment rather

than a necessary evil :-

(a)

might save you wasting time

later on my continuous telephone

calls because of your lack of

understanding of my anxieties.

(b) My story may reveal that there are

other areas where you might be

able to offer me legal services in

addition to the matter at hand.

This is particularly important for

you, given the increased competit–

ion within the profession and the

prospect that people who are not

solicitors will be able to offer

some legal service in the future .

issues and other legal business to

you in the future.

costs five

times as much in promotion to

generate new clients than it doe

to retain old one. I am more

likely to choose you a my

solicitor on the basi of a

recommendation from one of your

ati fied clients'rather than by

reading or hearing any promotion.

Remember, no matter how small

my transaction is, I am a possible

passport to many more client .

So what would I like you to do?

(a)

Initial Consultation

you communicate properly

during the initial consultation

most of the communication gaps

and errors can be bridged.

you

listen

effectively you will build up

my confidence thereby saving

time later by not having to answer

JULY/AUGUST 1993

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phone calls from me or having to

make demands of me for more

detailed information. I would like to

suggest the following listening/

questioning/ advising formula.

Listening

( I) Greet, seat and introduce

yourself to me.

(2) Elicit my story with opening

questions etc.

(3) Listen carefully to my basic

outline of personalities and case

from my own unhindered

words.

Questioning

(4) Question me on facts for gaps,

depth, background, ambiguities

and relevance.

(5) Sum up and recount your view

of facts, and check for my

agreement or amendments.

Minimise jargon.

Advising

(6) State advice and inform me of

the plan of action and deal with

question of likely outcome,

timescale and cost.

(7)

Repeat advice/plan of action

and check for my agreement or

amend.

(8) Recount follow-up work to be

done by me.

(9) Recount follow-up work to be

done by you.

(10) State next contact between us.

(II) Ask if there is "any other

business" and deal with it.

( 12) Terminate and good-bye.

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