Clients

Clients make the legal world go round and round. Without them we would have nothing to do all day but play golf and sexually harass the staff. But with clients comes certain, how shall I put this - pains in the ass.

In a recent email there was a sentence "If you've ever represented a client you didn't like . . ." Hold that thought while I stop laughing.

I am not sure I have ever met a client I liked. I love their checkbooks and the bizarre stories they bring to me, but I have yet found one I would spend non-billable time with, unless of course they were my friend before I was their attorney. (Tends to happen when your home is a bar and all of your friends are regulars).

Actually, some of my clients are good people just caught in a bad spot. Some I even feel sorry for, but they are clients. That can be the hardest part of being a new lawyer - a client is not your friend, just do the job and move on. I know I had trouble with that years ago and I see it in our new attorneys. Do the work, bill for it and forget about it when you leave the office. Do not think "can they afford for me to do this? Should I really bill for that?" - again they are clients, not your friends.

If they are your friends you probably should not be representing them anyway - you are to invested in their lives to give good advice.

Besides a client is just a necessary evil in this profession. If only there was a way to practice law, make tons of and not have any clients. Paradise.

Well it is time to go fire up a cigar and ponder how to bill for the time it took to write this.

Cheers