To Grow to Be a Successful Lawyer: Communication Skills and Importance of Feedback

In my first publication last month, I explained that I am starting these series of publications to invite other lawyers or law students to enter into a dialogue. My goal is to create a place for lawyers who are interested in exchanging ideas and learning new things.

This time my topic is Communication Skills and Importance of Feedback.

Communication is vital in every realm of a lawyer’s life. This time I will discuss communication with clients, and next time I will discuss internal communication within the law firm.

When clients are unhappy with their lawyers, do you know what their number one complaint is? It’s the failure to communicate. By that, I don’t mean that lawyers communicate in a pedantic way, using a lot of legalese and jargon (although that may be another problem) or that lawyers communicate in a perfunctory manner (again, another problem) but that the lawyers do not keep their clients updated on the status or progress of their matters at all.

Sometimes a case may take longer than a client expects. Or the client doesn’t even know what to expect. To us lawyers, the case’s progress may seem routine, so we don’t think to advise the clients that everything is proceeding as planned - or if not as planned, at least in a normal fashion - and that we have not forgotten about the client. But I have learned that the clients need reassurance.

Litigation, negotiations, exchanging drafts, waiting for decisions - all of these are routine activities for us lawyers. We are involved in them regularly as part of our daily practice. And we are used to the wheels of justice turning slowly. For example, I don’t check on the status of each of my matters every day, or even every month. I’m aware that certain cases follow a certain trajectory, and that we might not hear anything or need to do anything for a while. To lawyers, glacial paces are commonplace. We do not worry about this.

This is no so for our clients. At least not for individuals and small companies. Many of my clients, for example, have never been involved in a formal dispute or their disputes were not of certain level of materiality. They have never entered into a formal contract or started their own business. They have never been sued. They’ve never been involved in a lawsuit in any way. For them, their cases are at the forefront of their lives. They don’t know what to expect. Their matters are at best a nagging concern, and at worst a source of sleepless nights. They don’t know if silence from their attorney is good news, bad news, or neglect. And they tend to assume it is the last.

When I started practice I might not have communicated as much with clients as I should have. Of course I would carefully explain at the start what would happen, expecting them to understand that they would have to be patient for results. Surely they would know that I would contact them when I had news. But I have learned that clients appreciate status reports. Even if there is nothing to tell, they want to be told there is nothing to tell. This communication keeps their fear factor down and builds trust in their lawyer.

I want my clients to be satisfied with my services, not only because my job is to represent my clients well, but also because a happy client is a source of future referrals. Now I make a habit of calendaring periodic updates for all of my clients. I may have to just tell them that nothing is happening, but that is more reassuring to them than saying nothing. For some clients, a personal telephone call is best. For others, a simple email will do. But even the biggest clients like status updates.

What experience have you had with communication? Do you have tips or ideas of what to do or not to do? Please add your comments, ideas, impressions, and information in comments part below.