Litigators

Client Communications: Always Stay In Touch, Especially During Discovery

Your job is to win, not to worry about bothering your client.

By Brian Grossman  
on

It’s important to always remember to communicate with your client at all times during a litigation.

Client management is an important skill for any litigator, but it becomes even more important when you need input from your client. This is a skill that is not something you are taught in law school and it is very different from any other type of communication. It is tempting to simply email your client a draft brief or discovery responses with a deadline for edits and expect them to respond on time. However, as I have learned, this rarely happens. Like you, your clients are busy. And unlike you, their case is often not the top priority in their lives. It is up to you and your team to gently — and at times, persistently — remind the client of important tasks and deadlines.

It’s important to remember that your clients are human and, unlike litigators, have emotions. They are in a bad situation and they hired you to fix it. As such, this will require you to help them work out their problems. As an attorney with a busy schedule, it can require a conscious effort to carve out the time to speak with your client for hours on end even when you do not have time.  You’re not the client’s therapist, but to help them to meet their obligations, sometimes you need to show that you’re sympathetic to their situation. This might require a long phone call every once in a while.  Having these phone calls will help build a trust between you and your client, and, eventually, make your working relationship that much better.

Our firm has been lucky to be very busy this past year and as a result, I have met a vast range of clients in different circumstances. You must change your communication strategy based on your client’s personality. Some clients will receive your email and respond within minutes, while others will take days, if not weeks, to respond. Take the time to note your client’s communication habits and plan accordingly.

In one of our cases, we just started the discovery process, and as such, we were required to work with our clients to produce documents.  As these documents were on electronic devices, we had to work with the clients to image the data from their devices and online accounts.  Since there are multiple clients involved in the case, we had to follow up with each client individually to get the required information.  Some of the clients were able to provide the information we needed within the day, while others required constant follow up.  Luckily, I can count on my colleagues to be able to follow up with the client who need more assistance.

It is important to know your client. If you know your client is going to need more assistance than normal, you must plan ahead.  Get that client the document ahead of time and have your support staff follow up with the client a few days before the internal deadline. It is better to keep following up with a client before the deadline than to be working up to a court deadline with radio silence. If you need to call or email the client multiple times a day to get an answer, then do it.  Your job is to win, not to worry about bothering your client.  Not only will the constant reminders help your client, it will also show them that you and your team are on top of their case.

Client management and communications can be stressful and difficult at times, but don’t let that get to you. You must plan ahead and work with your client as they are in order to successfully do your job.

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brian-grossmanBrian Grossman was an attorney at Balestriere Fariello, a trial and investigations law firm which represents clients in all aspects of complex commercial litigation and arbitration from pre-filing investigations to trial and appeals. You can reach firm partner John Balestriere at john.g.balestriere@balestrierefariello.com.

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