Communicating with Your Attorney

Communication is an issue – in marriages, in business relationships and when it comes to your case.  Having practiced for well over a decade I have encountered the gamut of communication flows when it comes to clients.  There have been clients who call to tell me every time their spouse spends $10.00 at the gas station and there have been clients who mention on the eve of trial that their spouse maxed out a line of credit he/she failed to mention when reviewing written discovery.  I have clients who need a telephone call on a near daily basis without caring that my hourly rate is applied and I have had clients who prefer that we not speak unless there is an imminent need.  Somewhere in the middle of the pendulum is the perfect client who makes for an ideal attorney-client relationship.  This client returns my phone calls promptly, when this client calls me or stops in for a meeting he/she has a list of specific questions or concerns he/she would like to address and appreciates the list of “homework” tasks I give to make my representation of him/her more efficient, this client is courteous to my staff and is respectful of both time, money and most importantly my advice.   In the perfect client’s world, I am the “perfect” attorney – I return telephone calls promptly, address all questions with concrete answers and am respectful of my client’s time, money and most importantly, am cognizant that my advice and zealousness effects his/her world in ways that I can only begin to imagine.    Moral of the story, try to be the “perfect” attorney because that often can create the “perfect” client when it comes to communication.