Information- Honesty- Timeliness-Gas.
By Ian Zimmerman, Esq.
Information
Your attorney is an “insider” in a system that is quite complex. While most of the things that occur in the context of a legal case are commonsensical some are not. Your lawyer needs to explain to you the system and how it works and where your case fits within that system.
If your attorney does his or her job right you should have several “ah ha” moments in the course of your case; that is, once the attorney explains to you what has taken place and why a bell should go off in your head that says “now I understand; now I get it”. If you are in a constant or near constant state of confusion or bewilderment your attorney is probably not doing his job correctly.
Anybody can make something complicated. That’s not what your lawyer is getting paid to do. I have always believed that my first obligation to my clients-apart from telling them the brutal truth-is to make things as understandable as possible.
When I was younger I probably used bigger words with my clients because of my own insecurities. Now I use the smallest words I can. In the attorney-client relationship communication is always the attorney’s burden to bear. That’s why you pay us. It’s as simple as that.
Honesty.
Everyone since Abraham Lincoln and before talks about the value of “being honest”. I wonder how many people really treat this as an absolute.
I have long believed that the attorney’s obligation is to tell the client the truth no matter how hard or depressing or disconcerting or painful that truth can be. I am neither a psychologist nor a massage therapist.
I don’t massage problems away or “reframe” them for you to lessen their import. Do I care about my clients’ feelings? Of course I do but I often find that I do my best work when I have managed to depress my clients. It’s a reality check for me that 1) I have told them the truth and 2) they are finally “getting it”.
I am not intentionally cruel or brutal but I choose to err on the side of giving the unvarnished truth. If you were my patient and I was your doctor and you had cancer and you were dying I would tell you so. That’s my concept of bedside manner because after all is said and done you and only you are the one lying in the bed. It’s your bed. My sense of human dignity and the demands of professionalism tells me to tell it straight.
How a client handles what I have to say is their business; it is my business however to give you the straight facts with no sugar added. In these days when so much sugar (i.e., qualifiers and conditions and ambiguity and feel good speak) is added to nearly every type of human communication I find that I am in a distinct minority in my direct approach.
At school board meetings, community meetings, political events, fundraisers you name it-I sit there scratching my head asking myself over and over again “what the hell are they talking about”? “Who” are they talking about? Why some much speaking in code?????? It’s a perversion of the First Amendment. It’s an abuse of language.
I trust the client to manage his or her own emotional state and you can (perhaps) take some degree of comfort knowing that while you will get no sugar coating from me I am absolutely loyal to your case no matter what the facts are. But bottom line remains the same-you deserve the facts and my job is to find them and present them to you.
My job is to allow you to make an “informed decision”. The term today is almost Orwellian and makes a mockery of its original intent. Most “inform decisions” are anything but. The client or patient today is rarely given enough information in a clear enough format to make an “informed decision”.
Doctors and many other professionals will probably complain that this is due to “time constraints” and the “complexities” of the underlying issues. Hogwash. Poppycock. BS. Any idiot can explain something to make it sound complex. Plus many professionals secretly harbor-maybe as a result of all the hours they had to spend in school-a certain professional snobbery. I find this elitism repulsive and as we used to say (where I came from) these people could use a good smack in the head. Of course there are complex issues out there but a good and well trained professional should be able to make it understandable, palatable, digestible, logical, sequential, and processable or else why are they taking your money?
I don’t practice this way. I will give the client every single bit of data I possess including my impressions, my suspicions, my analysis, my training, and my professional assessment mixed with the cold law -all so that the client then I can sit calmly-for as long as it takes-to make the very best decision possible. A pet peeve of mine (as you can probably tell from the last paragraph or two) is when people talk down to me or otherwise treat me like an idiot. I don’t like it and I assume you don’t like it either.
I never treat my client’s as if they are somehow “less” than I am because I am legally trained. On the contrary, I give my clients my legal training so that they now can make the decision with the same tools at their disposal that I possess.
Timeliness.
The stress level in many personal injury cases is quite high and there is a corresponding need for communication with the attorney. Confusions arise and need to be dealt with quickly.
New facts arise that need to be dealt with quickly. Judgments and decisions need to be made on tactical and/or strategic matters. Nothing is more frustrating to a client then being afraid and/or confused and wallowing out there without his or her phone call or question being returned. I know because I’ve been a client myself and it is simply infuriating.
While I can’t guarantee that I will immediately return every phone call or e-mail I received I can tell you that we make it a very high priority to get back to our clients as quickly as we can. We may know that the issue is not as worrisome as you think it is but that doesn’t help you. You need to hear it from our lips and you need to hear a timely.
We know clients get anxious. We know clients have questions. We know you need some input or guidance or simply a platform to have your ideas bounced back on. Please be assured that we rarely close out doors at five and that you can almost always reach us either by telephone or e-mail or fax.
The distinction between a workday and nonworking hours at my firm is quite blurred. That was a professional and personal decision I made nearly 30 years ago and have no regrets about. We will promptly get back to you so that you are not left blowing in the wind.
Gas.
I made this term “GAS” up myself a while back because I think it defines who I am and what we area about as a law firm. I’ve never seen it used anywhere. Very simply, a person providing service to another -whether he is a lawyer or an electrician- needs GAS or to “give a shit”.
I probably shouldn’t use profanity that can be so easily seen and tracked on the Internet but I haven’t found a better or more direct way of expressing myself then using the term “GAS”. If your lawyer is simply going through the paces fire him. That goes for nearly every other person who provides you service in this life. No GAS sorry. I’ll find someone who does.
I was recently in the anxiety ridden process of selling a home and even though I am a lawyer with over 30 years experience and have tried many cases the process of selling my own home was not without its own trials and tribulations. The agent we originally hired was well respected with impeccable credentials. However she did not GIVE A SHI ^&* .
What did I do?
I fired her and found someone who was eager and hungry and willing to work hard for my money (commission) and really had (GAS). My house was sold 30 days later. Proof is in the pudding. You need an lawyer with GAS.