After one year being solo, I have come into contact with a whole new world of communication issues and resolutions.
The following are a few thoughts on how to avoid these problems as a client and how best to approach them as a lawyer.
A 10-minute call often gets more done than 10 emails
The benefit of messaging and emailing is that you are able to take a moment to put all your thoughts together in the best possible way. This is ideal for narrative, exposition, and context in any given discussion. However, it is not without its downsides. Often people can read a cynical tone into a message where the writer intended none. Or an important qualifier was missed in the draft before hitting send. These errors often can derail the communication and refocus the parties in a way that is unproductive.
Younger generations, including my own, may often opt to avoid the call and just send an email. But the truth is, a quick call will get you over the line that you previously assumed was still miles off. Or you realize that the tone you have been assuming from opposing counsel all this time is actually quite light and conciliatory. Not to mention the practical side, a 10-minute call is far more cost effective for the client than 10 emails deliberated over for 3 days.
Have the call, send a 3 line follow up email after memorializing everything that was just agreed to and move on. Save the energy and time.
People go to faces, not links
Let's say you are a business owner with a dispute beginning to manifest with one of your partners. You hop online to find some outside counsel to assist you and provide some guidance on how to deal with this mounting issue. As you are browsing, you are noticing websites that have a lot to say about "aggressive representation" with pictures of courthouses and contact forms that go somewhere you can't identify.
What I have learned is that same business owner typically calls the firm that they saw a face for. This is less of a marketing insight and more of an observation on personability. Legal work is a service, and people like to find service that is personable. A retainer is earned through trust, and not generic website marketing. If you find a way to overcome those initial barriers with prospective clients, a lot more of them call you back.
And if you are the business owner doing the searching, the same idea works in reverse. Before you sign anything, ask who is actually going to handle your matter. If a firm can't answer that plainly, that tells you something.
Write it down, don't assume
Say you have been working with another company for a year and a half on the strength of a good initial meeting and some nice opening emails. As the work scales, so does the potential for miscommunication and nastier problems. A payment drifts, somebody starts on some work that was never really discussed, etc.
All of a sudden, these businesses are in the middle of a dispute with no foundational agreement to rely on. A document that outlines what happens in the event of that missed payment, or someone working outside the intended scope, will go a very long way. Both sides may have a legitimate grievance but neither with a clear solution.
A formalized, written agreement isn't a sign of distrust, nor does it need to be 40 pages. A clear, concise document covering the scope of the work, pricing, timing, and termination will cure so many potential issues. A small cost for a 2 page document beats a large cost for a 2 year dispute.
The idea
Talk to people more. Write those conversations down more. Shake hands more. These are my thoughts both for the lawyer wanting to find more work and for business owners wanting to avoid that same work.
"Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser - in fees, expenses, and waste of time." - Abraham Lincoln, Notes for a Law Lecture, c. 1850