“You
know what your problem is, you were raised in a retail setting and that doesn’t
work here. Here, the customer is always
wrong!” This is advice I recently gave
my colleague. Now, for context, we both
understood that I am generally full of it.
But there is truth in what I was saying.
Clients
often ask lawyers to do things that are not in the client’s own interest. They want you to file a lawsuit or a motion
that you know has no hope of wining.
They want you to tell the other side things that will only make the
situation worse. They want you to take
positions that you know will only serve to irritate the judge. You have to counsel your clients against
doing these things. When they don’t take
your advice, tell them again. When they
don’t take your advice again, tell them in writing. When they still don’t take your advice and
the situation merits it, tell them to get a different lawyer if they are not
going to take your advice.
In
our profession we are constantly put in a position where we have to argue
against our own self-interest. We have
to tell clients that less of our services are sometimes more. When lawyers don’t have enough work, giving
that kind of advice gets harder and harder.
When a lawyer makes the wrong choice it’s like that old joke, “One
lawyer in town can make a good living.
Two lawyers in town can make a fortune.”
Don’t be a joke, and don’t make our profession a joke.
I
know that it can be seen as arrogant to think you always have the answer. You don’t.
But, in many situations, you are in a much better position to know what
choice has the better chance of being successful. Your clients need you to help them make those
decisions. So go ahead, tell them they
are wrong.
That’s My Argument
© July 2015 Brandon J. Evans
