June 21, 2005
Are most lawyers just kidding themselves about client service?
For most of recorded history, society has respected and vilified lawyers. We are celebrated and cursed. Reviews on us range from architects of great nations and the world's commercial markets to outright liars and thieves. We are said at best to have a metaphysical grasp of the truth. And horror stories about our botched or inattentive services are legion.
Can we talk about it even amongst ourselves?
• Do we have a “we versus them” and adversarial mentality about clients when our main focus should be doing the job we promised to do and protecting clients from third parties -- the real “them” -- which would harm our clients?
• Has lawyer camaraderie -- a natural and historical fact -- evolved into such clubiness that we have lost sight of the client’s primacy?
• Do we regularly lie to and slight our clients? Professionally, is that really any different than cheating on our spouses?
• Are contingency fee arrangements with clients a built-in conflict of interest which can never be justified -- even in the name of “access to the court system?”
• When we represent insurance companies, are we fair to the real clients -- the insureds? Will we ever put the interests of the insureds first?
• Do many of us wind up selling clients short because we are disillusioned or burned out?
• Are lawyer jokes funny to us because they sound like the truth?
• Has the overpopulation of the world with lawyers forced us into a free-for-all?
In short, did we forgot the main event -- the clients themselves?
Posted by JD Hull at 05:05 AM | Comments (0)