What Do You Do When Your Client Won’t Listen to You? (Part I)

The practice of law would be a lot more fun, if it was not for the clients.?No, let me qualify that statement.?The practice of law is fun, because of some clients.?The practice of law is not fun because of some stubborn clients who will not listen to your advice.?We will call these people unreasonable clients. I can confidently say to a reasonable degree of legal certainty you currently have an unreasonable client, you just finished representing an unreasonable client, or you will represent an unreasonable client in the near future.?They are out there.?They have heard about those record-setting recoveries in cases “just like theirs” from the TV lawyers and the billboards.?Now, they want you to champion their cause.

How do you identify an unreasonable client??Just check your blood pressure.?If a client raises your blood pressure when you talk to them, they are likely an unreasonable client.?If thoughts of a client become a regular intruder into your leisure time and begin to fill the space between your daily tasks, you probably have an unreasonable client.?

Recently, I concluded a headache of a case I had in my office for several years as we approached the trial date.?The most frustrating thing about the case was not the “holes” in the case, but the client simply would not recognize those “holes”, and seemed dead-set on having his day in court.?I knew, based on my 36 ? years of experience those holes in the case would sink our ship with a jury.?Finally, about two weeks before the trial was scheduled to begin, the client expressed an interest in settling the case.?And within a couple of days, it was settled.?What a relief!?Nobody likes being embarrassed in court.?And nobody likes wasting time and money. Note:?I write this from a plaintiff lawyer’s perspective, because defense lawyers can more easily stomach an unreasonable client’s stubbornness, because those extra billable hours will pay for their children’s college educations.?The math is much harder on a plaintiff’s lawyer, because 40% of a defense verdict ($0) = $0 in attorney’s fees.

Afterwards, I began to reflect on what happened.?Why had the client finally gotten reasonable??As I processed this bad experience, I remembered something I read in John Maxwell’s book, Sometimes You Win - Sometimes You Learn: Life’s Greatest Lessons Are Gained from Our Losses, p.167 (Center Street, 2013), “When we fail or have a bad experience, we need to learn to become more like scientists and inventors.?When their work fails, they call it an experiment that didn’t work.?Or they say they tested a hypothesis.?Or they term it data collection.?They keep their perspective, avoid taking it personally, learn from it, and leverage it for future success.”?Maxwell later quoted former Yankees manager, Casey Stengel, “You gotta lose’m sometimes.?When you do, lose’m right.”?Here are some things I learned, which will hopefully help you with that difficult, unreasonable client.?

Don’t represent unreasonable clients.?The best way to avoid representing unreasonable clients is to screen your cases carefully.?Look for those red flags when you do your case intake.?Look out for those clients whose early questions include “what is my case worth?” I rarely take a case when another attorney has been involved.?While I will occasionally be attorney number two, I will never be attorney number three.?Also, be careful of taking on clients who are being greatly influenced by outsiders.?It is hard enough to deal with clients directly, but it becomes nearly impossible if there are other voices exerting undue influence in the case decisions.?Just say “no” to unreasonable clients.?There are others people who will be willing to not only pay for your advice, but they will also pay attention to what you advise them to do.?Remember, every person deserves representation, but it does not necessarily have to be provided by you.?Life is too short to fight battles on two fronts: against the opposing side and your own client.

Don’t miss your exit!?Sometimes an unreasonable/problem client will slip through your initial screening process.?You need to try to identify a problem client early in the process. Look for warning signs.?Sometimes it is best to exit a case rather than endure the time and money sucking effect of pressing on in a bad case. We mediated my recent “unreasonable client” case with a highly respected mediator.?He pointed out several problems with our case.?These were some of the same problems I had tried to help my client appreciate.?Not only did the unreasonable client refuse to listen to the mediator, but he left early in the process without gaining the insight from the mediator that could help us going forward.?Later in the case, I was driving back from the deposition of our medical expert on the issue of causation.?The 3 ? hour long deposition had not gone well.?I needed some comfort food, so on the drive back home I was going to stop by an excellent pizza place.?I was distracted on the phone (although it was a legal, hands-free call) as I approached the exit off Interstate 285, and I missed my exit.?I had to drive several miles further before I could exit and make my way back to the eatery.?At that moment, I mentally kicked myself for not exiting my unreasonable client case earlier.?It would have saved untold hours of work and worry.?But what if you feel like you’re stuck in the case and exiting is not really an option??What can you do to convince your client settlement is their best option? (To be continued)