[00:00:07] Scott Benton: Hey everyone, Scott Benton here. How are you? I’m the host of the Classroom2Courtroom podcast where we help you easily transition from law school as a law student into your professional career as an attorney, which is what you’re trying to do and where we make the practice of law fun.
[00:00:23] Scott Benton: Now today, we’re going to be asking the question and answering that question of, When Working with Clients, Should I Behave as an Attorney?
[00:00:34] Scott Benton: Now in a lot of cases, attorneys can sometimes get a bad rap, and they can even be portrayed in movies and television shows as cartoonishly unlikable. There can definitely be a lot of misconceptions about, what it means to behave as an attorney? Especially, if you’re the type of attorney who works with clients, and I’m sure as you know, not all attorney work with clients.
[00:00:57] Scott Benton: So for context, the law firm that I work [00:01:00] for, it’s a Trust and Probate Litigation and Administration Firm. So that means, that all of our business is generated from clients who hire us to perform legal services for them.
[00:01:11] Scott Benton: So now, it’s true that some clients may come into the firm expecting attorneys to behave, the way that attorneys are in movies and TV and that sort of cartoonishly unlikable TV manner. Not all attorneys are portrayed that way in movies and TV, but oftentimes they are.
[00:01:29] Scott Benton: So, people that really haven’t worked with law firms or worked with attorneys before really don’t know what to expect. So, their only context of that outside world and what they think they’re getting themselves into, is unfortunately, what they see on TV or in movies.
[00:01:43] Scott Benton: Hopefully, when they do show up at the law firm, at your law firm, that they are going to be very pleasantly surprised. Because you are going to be somebody that they find is going to be the opposite of that expectation. And that’s going to be a very sort of enjoyable experience [00:02:00] for them and maybe more likely for them to hire you as their attorney is their representative.
[00:02:05] Scott Benton: So now, that’s not to say, by the way, that the attorney that they’re meeting with doesn’t behave in a professional manner. They do and hopefully you do. But they may find that the attorney is going to be likable and friendly and that they’re going to show a genuine interest in the legal situation that the potential client or the client is in.
[00:02:25] Scott Benton: And that’s why they’ve hired you as an attorney in the first place. Because they like you, because you formed a relationship with them. So it can often be a good working relationship that doesn’t at all feel like, the attorneys that they really see in movies or television, which is really good news for you.
[00:02:44] Scott Benton: But whether or not you need to behave as an attorney, that’s a little bit of a different question, because it all depends on whatever your preconception is of what that behavior should look like.
[00:02:55] Scott Benton: And so, that’s maybe the wrong question to ask, or at least, maybe the wrong way [00:03:00] in. I think instead, we should probably talk about the kind of relationship that you’re going to build with your clients. Because, that relationship that you establish and build and sustain with your client is really going to inform the overall baseline for your presentation and your behavior overall as an attorney.
[00:03:20] Scott Benton: So first of all, yes, you are an attorney. An attorney is a professional and you’re an expert in your field of specialty. So, clients come to you and they pay for your expertise. And so, you definitely want to show up to your meetings focused on their case. And you want to definitely listen attentively. This is so important. You want to listen like a focused laser beam. Now this is going to become an important component in your professional behavior.
[00:03:47] Scott Benton: But there’s another component as well that you very much want to consider. And this component is really going to underscore the kind of behavior that you present, and that you show up with, and that you need to adopt at [00:04:00] a law firm especially when you’re working with clients.
[00:04:02] Scott Benton: And if the goal with your client is to build trust and inspire confidence in winning their case, and then you want to transfer that trust that you’ve built with them and they’ve built with you and your confidence in winning the case to the client, which is ultimately going to keep them paying for the delivery of your legal services.
[00:04:21] Scott Benton: Then you want to form, and I want to underscore this, you want to form an authentic, genuine, professional relationship with the client.
[00:04:30] Scott Benton: That’s the entire key. You want to form a genuine, authentic, professional relationship. And you want to form this kind of relationship, not only with your clients, but also with everyone else at the firm as well that you work with. And even with the outside vendors, you want to make sure that you have that strong connection with them and that it’s genuine and authentic.
[00:04:51] Scott Benton: And you’re going to be surprised at how effective this is and how much it helps. Not only to bring in new clients when they come to you for an [00:05:00] initial consultation, for instance, but also the clients that you’re currently working with, they’re not going to stop paying. They’re going to continue to want to work with you.
[00:05:08] Scott Benton: More specifically though, but what does that mean in terms of the day to day interactions when you’re working with your clients? It’s going to mean little things. Such as letting them know that you’re not going to be available for a period of time because maybe you have an upcoming trial or maybe you’re, I don’t know, going on vacation. It also means that, if sometimes, a client will not be so happy with the legal services that they’re getting.
[00:05:32] Scott Benton: A lot of times, people just don’t understand all the steps that a case needs to take in order to reach the goals that you’re trying to reach. And so this means that, if a client starts to complain about poor services that they feel they’re getting delivered to them by you or by the firm that you stop and that you listen to their complaints.
[00:05:52] Scott Benton: And remember, you’re always listening. You’re focused like a laser beam and that you’re responding in a way that lets them [00:06:00] know that you’ve heard them. Because you want to remember that we are as attorneys, you’re in the business of delivering excellent legal services.
[00:06:10] Scott Benton: So if the quality of that service has started to decline or they perceive that it’s started to decline, you definitely want to hear them out. Now sometimes, the best thing to do when a client has a legitimate complaint is to give them enough space to say whatever they want to tell you.
[00:06:27] Scott Benton: They’re trusting you enough because you’ve built that relationship with them. They’re trusting you enough to be real honest with them because you’ve been real honest with your client and they are now going to be real honest with you. So, you want to provide that kind of availability and that level of trust.
[00:06:44] Scott Benton: So, they feel comfortable expressing their frustrations with you and that you acknowledge their complaints and their grievances because a legal cases can usually be a fairly uncomfortable place for people, especially with the kind of law that we practice, which is [00:07:00] wills and trust.
[00:07:00] Scott Benton: There’s a lot of family members that are involved. There’s a breakdown in relationships. People are feeling like they’re under a lot of pressure in the cases that we handle and you may have clients where they’re under the similar type of pressure.
[00:07:15] Scott Benton: So, if they’re going to come to you, they need to blow off that steam. If they’re concerned about the quality of the services declining, whether that’s true or not is really irrelevant. You want to, again, give them the space to air those grievances and you want to hear them out.
[00:07:31] Scott Benton: Now, when it comes to building that same kind of authentic, genuine, professional relationship with others at your firm. If a case such as the one where a client is unhappy with the delivery of the legal services that you’re providing, then you want to be able to go to your senior attorney about it and as soon as you can, so you can get in front of those problems before they really get any larger and the client stops paying for your services and just leaves.
[00:07:56] Scott Benton: Chances are, that you’re stumped and you didn’t consider [00:08:00] maybe different strategies or different options or maybe you missed some nuance somewhere and the case has slowed down or maybe it’s even stopped. Then, of course, communicating those discoveries to your client about the case. Once you’ve ironed them out, it’s going to help maintain the overall strength and the bond of that relationship that you’ve been able to build with your client.
[00:08:20] Scott Benton: So, instead of focusing on whether you should behave like an attorney or not, you really want to concentrate on working towards establishing authentic, genuine, professional relationships with all of your clients, with everyone at the firm, and even with the outside vendors that you work with. And the manner in which you behave will simply take care of itself.
[00:08:40] Scott Benton: So, I hope this has been helpful. I’m Scott Benton, I’m the host of the Classroom2Courtroom podcast. Thank you so much for listening to this episode. Now, if you like the material that we’re putting together and we’re producing. And you want to get an alert every time we put out a new episode of this podcast. You can go to our website.
[00:08:56] Scott Benton: Our website is Classroom2Courtroom.com. That’s classroom, [00:09:00] the number 2, courtroom. com. You can leave us your contact information and whenever we publish a new episode of this podcast, you will get a notification.
[00:09:09] Scott Benton: And if this is information that you’re really enjoying, don’t forget to like, share and subscribe so that you can stay on top of all the new episodes. And until next time, we hope you’ll join us in making the world a better place, one client at a time.
[00:09:21] Scott Benton: Thank you so much for joining, and be well.
