Why clients can suck sometimes
"T.S.Quint: Haven't you ever heard the phrase "The customer is always right?"
Shannon Hamilton: Let me tell you something. Let me give you a little secret, okay.
[yells it right in T.S.' ear]
Shannon Hamilton: The customer is always an asshole!"
Now, not to agree with a backdoor man like Shannon Hamilton, but as anyone who ever worked in a service based industry knows (and yes, law, at its heart, is a service based industry), a good client/customer usually never gives you much pause, but a bad one will always put a monkeywrench in what could be an otherwise nice day. Such was the case today as a client for whom I've done significant amounts of work over the last seven months (pretty much my entire tenure with my current firm) left my boss a rather nasty message complaining about our work for her. Now, had this been my old job, I'd have probably been given a reaming first, allowed to give my side of the story second, but fortunately, my current boss is a bit more stoic and a bit more rational when it comes to this.
And in this situation, it's with good reason. I don't consider myself a Jonathan Blontmacher yet (and most of you who read this-assuming anyone still reads this-have no clue who he is. He's a very reknowned estate planning attorney), but I do a very good job giving my clients what they want. So, when a client claims I don't do that, especially one who, up until this point, has not told me they were unhappy with my work, it comes off as someone trying to avoid paying for the work done for them.
What gets my goat the most is that lawyer's get a terrible reputation for charging too much and not being ethical, but no one ever talks about unethical clients who try to take advantage of those trying to help them.
Shannon Hamilton: Let me tell you something. Let me give you a little secret, okay.
[yells it right in T.S.' ear]
Shannon Hamilton: The customer is always an asshole!"
Now, not to agree with a backdoor man like Shannon Hamilton, but as anyone who ever worked in a service based industry knows (and yes, law, at its heart, is a service based industry), a good client/customer usually never gives you much pause, but a bad one will always put a monkeywrench in what could be an otherwise nice day. Such was the case today as a client for whom I've done significant amounts of work over the last seven months (pretty much my entire tenure with my current firm) left my boss a rather nasty message complaining about our work for her. Now, had this been my old job, I'd have probably been given a reaming first, allowed to give my side of the story second, but fortunately, my current boss is a bit more stoic and a bit more rational when it comes to this.
And in this situation, it's with good reason. I don't consider myself a Jonathan Blontmacher yet (and most of you who read this-assuming anyone still reads this-have no clue who he is. He's a very reknowned estate planning attorney), but I do a very good job giving my clients what they want. So, when a client claims I don't do that, especially one who, up until this point, has not told me they were unhappy with my work, it comes off as someone trying to avoid paying for the work done for them.
What gets my goat the most is that lawyer's get a terrible reputation for charging too much and not being ethical, but no one ever talks about unethical clients who try to take advantage of those trying to help them.
posted by Mike at 11:54 AM
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