A Good Case with a Bad Client is a Bad Case
No matter how good the case is, if you have a ‘bad client’, it’s still a bad case. What is a bad client?
- Unreasonable Expectations
- Won’t Follow Reasonable Medical Advice
- Won’t Follow Reasonable Legal Advice
- Abusive
When people get injured, they’re in pain, they’re out of work, money is tight and at times they get stressed. It’s not unusual for the money situation to get tight, or the realize they need a surgery and don’t know how to pay for it, to get stressed and call the lawyer’s office mad.
It’s not unusual for a good client to get stressed in this very difficult time and in a very good relationship to get –3 heated phone calls in the course of a two year relationship. Normally, that is followed by a sheepish phone call the next day apologizing. It’s okay. We understand, it’s something we deal with on a regular basis and see all the time. I don’t mind that. We do what we can to help our people.
I’m not talking about people that get momentarily upset. We take the time to make certain they understand the legal process, what we can do and what we can’t do. We talk through what the problem is and what we can do to help them and then they refuse to listen. We explain the situation again and they agree. The next day they call with the exact same problem and pretend that we didn’t have the conversation of the day before. That’s a bad client.
Or perhaps we have to file suit and are beginning discovery. We need the Defendant’s discovery requests and need to take depositions. This will take two to three months and is explained to the client, yet they call daily asking where their money is and when they can expect a check. That’s a bad client.
A client that won’t go to the doctor, refuses to follow the doctor’s orders and is non-compliant with their medical treatment is a bad client. More often than not, if they don’t go to the doctor, there’s nothing you can do for them.
A client that won’t listen to your legal advice is a bad client. We all know that it’s the client’s case and they get to make the decisions. We also know that sometimes, what is best for the client is not necessarily best for their legal case. I have no problem with that. I’m talking about when you tell the clients what the law is, and they argue with what they want the law to be. I’m not talking about a discussion, or the client asking questions. I’m talking about consistently arguing with the lawyer on what the law is and consistently not following the lawyers advice. I feel if they don’t want our advice, then they really should have a lawyer who’s advice that they like and will follow.
An abusive client, who calls 3–4 times a day, when told the lawyer is in court and there is not an emergency is abusive. A client who refuses to talk to the staff and let the staff deal with the situation is abusive. A client who when they have a problem, calls and says “He better call back, or we’ll fire him and get another lawyer”, when their case is up to speed and there has been consistent client contact is a bad client.
No matter how good a case is, that a bad client will find some way to make a mess out of it and with the added benefit of making your life miserable at the same time.
So what do you do?
- Talk About Expectations in the Initial Meeting – Make certain the client knows the typical outcome in their type of case (soft tissue cases will not make them rich), the good and the bad. Make certain they understand the time frames involved with treatment and the litigation process. Make certain they understand what to expect and their expectations are from the start.
- Check if They’re Nice People in the Initial Meeting – If they have a ‘difficult personality’ that will normally be apparent in the first call and the initial meeting, in the way they tell you about their case, whether they will actually answer your questions, or try to direct the conversation away from the information you need to know. If they’re difficult and hard to deal with at the beginning, it won’t get better.
- Keep the Client Informed – People are much easier to deal with if they know what’s going on with their case.
- If There’s a Problem, Talk to the Client – If you find, that despite your best efforts, you do have a problem client, don’t hide behind a secretary or paralegal, talk to the client. Spend the time to have a half hour conversation with the client instead of just a 5 minute touch base call. Hopefully, that conversation will get things on track.
If you have a bad client, you have a bad case. It’s that simple. In dealing with cases on a contingency basis, we can’t afford to have bad cases. Life is too short to deal with bad clients. Do what you can to screen for bad clients before you take them on. If you have make a mistake in judgment and find out you do have a bad client, then get rid of them as quick as possible.
AMEN! I could not have said it better my self. I would only add: With a bad client, no matter how much you obtain in recovery, it will never be enough; and you run the risk of a bar complaint. Great post.
I agree. Very informative and well written article. I also agree with what Henry is saying. When you have a bad client nothing you can do is possibly enough. They are greedy and just end up wasting a lot of your time and money.
