Small Law Firms, Solo Practitioners

Betting On Clients

Not all of your clients are going to be ideal, but you have to go out there and get them.

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In Biglaw, associates don’t really have any control over who their clients are. The firm has longstanding relationships with a few clients (hopefully many clients), and most of the partners are out there trying to land more work. In a few instances, maybe associates even had a hand in landing clients, though I find often associates tend to overvalue their role in landing a particular client. The associates (and junior/income partners, for the most part) are cogs, which is why it’s ridiculous when someone like Kristen Gillibrand gets criticized for her work as an associate. Associates are force-fed the work, and they better grin and ask for more.

Then you start your own practice. And at first you want all the business you can get. Beggars can’t be choosers, and as I’ve said before, I recommend if you have the bandwidth take the work and later worry about whether the person is an ideal client. (You never know: the client could wind up actually paying you, albeit slowly, or do things like try to refer legitimate work to you.) Having clients tends to attract other clients, just like at the club most of us will find someone more attractive if they are at the bar or on the floor regularly engaging with members of the opposite/same sex, as opposed to staying in a corner waiting for Mr./Ms. Perfect to show up out of the blue. Your first clients probably aren’t going to be ideal anyway — largely because it takes awhile for you to figure out where you fit into the landscape — and the only thing you really want to avoid is having a bar complaint filed against you.

But eventually you will get pretty good at attracting clients — it just takes practice getting the ball rolling — and your time constraint will become more and more of a concern. There really are just so many hours in the day.

It’s a gamble when you take on a new client, particularly someone you don’t already have a relationship with. A gamble that they’re going to pay, that they’ve accurately described the situation, that whatever they’re up to isn’t going to drag you down along with them. Clients are unpredictable, just like people in general, and no matter what, you’re never going to end up billing every hour you spend on a matter. When your time is precious, or at least strained, it becomes paramount not to get yourself into situations that are going to take up your time for little to no benefit (or worse: lead to a bar complaint).

There are clients I like, and that I love working on their matters and can’t wait to get to the office and work on them some more. (And if you happen to be one of my clients and are reading this, yes, I’m talking about you!) And then there are those that somehow always end up on the back burner and I’m continually checking the deadlines to see when I really do have to actually work on it. Always looking for more of the former, less of the latter.

I know what you’re thinking: Gary, aren’t you a little old for the club scene? Probably. You may also be wondering how to know whether a client will turn out to be a bad bet. Next week I’ll talk about Warning Signs for When Not to Take on a Client.

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Gary J. Ross opened his own practice, Jackson Ross PLLC, in 2013 after several years in Biglaw and the federal government. Gary handles corporate and compliance matters for investment funds, small businesses, and non-profits, occasionally dabbling in litigation. You can reach Gary by email at Gary.Ross@JacksonRossLaw.com.

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