Legal Commentary

Responsiveness is damned important

By Patrick J. Lamb

I have a new matter on which I inherited local counsel.  I send emails asking simple questions, like "did you do a choice of law analysis before saying State A's law applies."  Days later, I'm still waiting for a response.  I am waiting for, literally, a one word response.  The fact that I haven't gotten an answer is interfering with my ability to plan what I want to do on this case.

Will I survive.  Absolutely.  Will I hire this law firm again? Never.

Think about the last question.  I sent my email query to 3 lawyers, all partners.  And because of the poor service of those 3 lawyers, I have now ruled out the entire law firm.

Do you think clients think about their lawyers the way I do?  Ask yourself this question: are you prepared to wager everything that all clients don't? 

Client service may not be the reason you get a new client, but it certainly is a critical factor in whether you get new matters from a client.

Full post as published by In Search of Perfect Client Service on January 30, 2010 (boomark / email).