RESPECTING THE BOUNDARIES OF AN ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP

I understand that the costs of hiring an attorney may leave you as a client feeling somewhat entitled because it is usually a fairly decent sum of money.  However, you are paying for a service or knowledge that an attorney has spent many years in school obtaining, taking exams to become licensed, many hours taking continuing legal education, and from years of experience.  

You are not paying for an attorney to be on call to you 24/7, this is an unreasonable expectation and if you come at your attorney with that expectation the sad reality is that while you receive the services you pay for, you will likely over time exhaust and frustrate your attorney.  This will result in your attorney responding to you as appropriate by law and ethical standards but not going above and beyond for you due to your lack of disrespect.

Attorneys are human beings with lives and deserve respect in how you approach them.  A key component to respecting your attorney’s boundaries is knowing what they are.

This is where those questions I identified in the Consultations section will become very important, so you can hire an attorney who will reply in the manner and time frame you are okay with. You cannot expect to hire an attorney who has clear boundaries that do not align with the availability you desire and then get upset they do not reply on your time but on their timeline. 

Key factors you should know before hiring an attorney, and when working with an attorney to ensure your expectations are realistic:

• Attorney’s working hours and/or business hours.
• Attorney’s time frame for a reply, and what to do if your Attorney does not reply within this time frame.
• Attorney’s preferred method of communicating, along with in what order Attorney will check/respond. If you know how your Attorney work, this will help you contact your attorney in the manner that is best for the level of urgency of your communication. [Each Attorney has different systems and knowing them make it easier for you to know how to gauge your expectations.  For example, I start my day reviewing all received communications in the following order: 1. Emails (including system emails where a client asks a question on a form, or sends a message in my portal, or uploads a document), 2. Voicemail Messages, 3. WhatsApp Messages, and 4. Physical Mail.  I will not reply to documents received through the portal unless there is a question, something is wrong, or missing. Since my client’s know this if they send me a message in WhatsApp then receive my out of office message, they know to send me an email letting me know it is urgent, so I pop to it quickly and reply.]
• How to schedule a call with your Attorney.
• What is your best way to get answers to your questions (calls/texts/emails/etc…) when they arise, because they will.

If you know all of the above and operate within these boundaries it will greatly improve your satisfaction as you will be very clear on what to expect and how to get help, and your attorney will be grateful you are respecting boundaries which will undoubtedly keep your attorney diligent in working on your case.

There are some things clients do from time to time that have been absolutely infuriating, and while I always remain professional, I no longer have a desire to go above and beyond for that client. 

I am a “go above and beyond” type attorney, it is fundamentally who I am. However, clients who push the envelope, who don’t respect my boundaries, who call over and over for non-emergencies insisting it is an emergency, who call me repeatedly at 3am or in general in my non-working hours, who are rude/dismissive/demanding, or just fail to do as promised all diminish my desire to go above and beyond. 

What you can take from this to get the most out of your Attorney Client relationship is:

• to understand what an emergency is and is not;
• unless your Attorney fails to reply within the timeframe they indicate, do not message/call/email your Attorney over and over for the same concern trying to get a faster response. Send a message in their preferred format, wait the expected time frame for reply and then reach out again;
• when your attorney asks for something reply timely and as requested;
• honor your commitments within the Attorney-Client relationship and when you are unable to be accountable with humility;
• keep your expectations realistic; and
• communicate effectively (when you contact your attorney, no matter the method be clear, concise, and be sure you make sense.)!

If you treat your attorney the way you would like to be treated, which is hopefully in a kind respectful way, you should receive this in return.