Small Law Firms

‘Nice To Meet You… Here’s My Invoice’: Advice On Working With New Clients

Potential clients are taking a big leap of faith when they are reaching out to a new attorney, so make sure they know they are valued and that you are worthy of their trust.

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At a small law firm, you are frequently balancing on a tightrope between attracting and keeping new clients and getting billable work done for existing ones. But the fact is that the health of a firm often depends on a steady stream of new clients, as old matters resolve and old clients decide they can get better service from the guy down the street who flaunts his flat rates on glossy brochures. This means that the way you deal with potential clients is important.

My firm, which primarily represents community associations, obtains a lot of new business through referrals. We are typically contacted by a potential new client by phone or email. It can be difficult to pull your attention away from a deadline-oriented project to contact a stranger who may just want a few minutes of free legal advice, but it is critical to get in touch with potential clients as soon as possible. That potential client has likely reached out to multiple firms to explore her options, and even if just for the sake of convenience is likely to pick the attorney who responds first.

Contact a potential client by phone rather than email. Someone may be about to pay you hundreds of dollars an hour for your advice or for some words you type up for them, so they want to be able to trust you. Building trust happens through communications that are unlikely to be as meaningful over Outlook.

When you call the potential client, be clear about how much time you have to speak with them at the beginning of the discussion to avoid a lengthy chat that could take a big bite out of your day’s billable hours. Anticipate that the person will expect a bit of a song and dance from you with respect to their legal options and what sort of course of action you would consider if he hired you. But be sure to keep things relatively non-committal, since you don’t want to lock in any expectations before completing a full case analysis. Also be sure to perform a conflicts check before soliciting a lot of information or providing any feedback.

I try to have staff email new-client packets as quickly as possible after the call, or I bring one to the in-person meeting. This way potential clients have access to our fee schedule and fee agreement while our (hopefully positive) interaction is still fresh in their minds.

Some potential clients want to meet in person. That’s a good way of building rapport, but it also can take a lot more of your time than a call. Encourage a meeting at your office to cut out travel time. But make the visit as comfortable as possible for the potential client — validate parking, bring bagels, and don’t make them marinate in the conference room for a long time even if they show up early.

When you interface with potential clients, remember their names and use them. This can be especially challenging if meeting with a group of people, such as the boards of directors that my firm represents. Write names down at the top of a legal pad at the outset of a meeting or call in case you draw a blank.

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Remember that a potential client may not have worked with an attorney before. He is likely going to be nervous about costs. Set expectations by providing estimated costs for a particular project up front — but be clear if the matter is complicated and a reliable estimate will be difficult to provide. Clients often expect you to stay within the parameters of an estimate, no matter how definitively you state that it is not set in stone, so avoid trying to draw them in with a ballpark figure that you can’t likely honor to get them in the door. Protect new clients against sticker shock by being ready to trim a bit from your fees while you are still building a relationship.

Your first contacts with a potential client are also an opportunity for you to determine if this is the type of client you would like to represent. Keep in mind that by taking on this client, you may be creating a conflict with respect to other future clients that may be complicated to resolve. (That happens a lot in my practice area, because if we represent one owner in a community, it is difficult to represent his community association down the road should they need legal help.) Figure out if personalities and expectations align, and whether the matter is something you can handle competently and efficiently. Be ready with a list of referrals. Sometimes the best guidance you can provide is to navigate a potential client to a different attorney who is better equipped to handle the legal tasks involved.

Determine during your initial contact whether the person contacting you is someone with authority to hire you. Sometimes a board member reaches out to us on behalf of the association served by the board without first getting authority the other board members. Or a developer will try to hire us on behalf of an association that is now controlled by a board of owners. If there’s a question about authority, untangle that mess before you are caught up in it.

Finally, be sure to thank the person you referred the potential client to you, even if it doesn’t result in a new client relationship. Consider even mailing out one of those thank-you cards made out of actual paper.

Potential clients are taking a big leap of faith when they are reaching out to a new attorney. We are expensive strangers. Take the time to make sure they know they are valued and that you are worthy of their trust at the outset — this effort may not only create the new relationship but preserve it heading into the future.

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Allison Peryea is a shareholder attorney at Leahy Fjelstad Peryea, a boutique law firm in downtown Seattle that primarily serves community association clients. Her practice focuses on covenant enforcement and dispute resolution. She is a longtime humor writer with a background in journalism and cat ownership. You can reach her by email at [email protected].

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