Be ever grateful for phone calls

Mon, Jun 13, 2011

By Robert McClay

The practice of law, especially in a small firm, is largely reactive. It is axiomatic that a key to a successful small practice is time management, so the following suggestion may seem counterintuitive but I assure you it is not.

The old adage, “service to all is service to none,” is often cited as a justification for screening client or lawyer calls. We are all too familiar with the drill: A call comes asking for lawyer A. The immediate response is, ”who is calling”? This is followed by silence and the return comment that lawyer A is busy and does the caller want to be placed in lawyer A’s voice mail.

I have always found this drill rude and harmful to client- and lawyer-to-lawyer relations. When I started my firm over 25 years ago, I made the decision that we would handle calls differently. In our office, in response to the request to speak to me or my partner, the client or other lawyer is told the truth. ”He is in. May I tell him who is calling”? This is followed by the receptionist letting us know who is calling so we have a moment to collect our thoughts before taking the call.

If we are unavailable, the specific reason is explained. He is in but on the phone, in conference or working on a project and has asked not to be disturbed. The difference in the two approaches signals to the client who is important. The traditional way creates a barrier. Our way, and I am unaware of any other firm that follows are procedure, communicates interest in the client and professionalism towards the other attorney. It will also be a surprise as to how few calls you have to return at the end of the day.

The policy is also self-policing, as clients learn quickly that they are charged for calls and therefore screen their own needs to speak to a lawyer. Isn’t that preferable to each of us deciding whether our client needs to speak with us?

This post was written by:

Robert McClay - who has written 2 posts on Solo Contendere.

My wife of 33 years and I have two daughters and three grandchildren. Neither of us is from Minnesota, Carolyn is from the deep south and I was rasied on the east coast. We met while I was in law schhol and relocated to the twin Cities so she could study veterinary medicine at the University of Minnesota. The Twin Cities and particularly St. Paul has been a wonderful place to live, work and raise our family. I have been in private practice for over 30 years. I am a partner in McClay-Alton, PLLP a small St. Paul firm located on Grand Avenue. My areas of practice are outside general counsel to a small publicly traded medical products company. This occupies 1/3 of my time with commercial litigation, transactional work and advising our business clients making up the balance. My Blog contributions will be sourced from my work.

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2 Comments For This Post

T.J. Conley Says:
June 13th, 2011 at 5:17 pm
Robert:

I think this is excellent advice. I’ve always found clients to be pleasantly surprised when I actually answer my own phone. While it is sometimes a drag to be interrupted, I’m sure the benefit of client satisfaction outweighs any small inconvenience.
Shawn Vogt Sween Says:
June 15th, 2011 at 5:57 pm
I completely agree with your strategy and use it myself in my firm. I find it frustrating to sit and wait for people to get back to my emails or phone calls, and I’d hate for my clients to feel that frustration about me. I know this practice is unusual, because clients have come in after firing other attorneys for simply not returning their phone calls. I do take client calls right away, and while it can be hard to focus my thoughts that quickly, I agree that it shows respect for the client.

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