Manage expectations

One of the main causes of client dissatisfaction - and one that most solicitors seem to be well aware of, while often failing to appreciate its implications - is a failure to manage client expectations.

All too often, when a complaint arises from this cause, the response is that the client is being totally unreasonable.

This itself gives the game away, because it shows that the solicitor is looking at the problem entirely from his point of view and is failing to appreciate the client's position.

Furthermore, because the solicitor knows that the client is being unreasonable, he assumes that the client must know it also.

When such a response is the reaction to a complaint, the almost inevitable reaction is to dismiss it, instead of realising what has caused the problem and reacting accordingly.

This only upsets the client again; he now considers he is being fobbed off, and he takes the matter further.

Remember that clients, no matter what their standing, do not have the lawyer's skill and expertise and have no intimate knowledge of legal process and what is actually involved in the work necessary to carry out their instructions.

It is therefore essential to explain to the client, at the start of the retainer, what has to be done and how it has to be done and also to cover certain basic essentials of the service itself.

The problem was vividly illustrated when a solicitor who specialised in criminal work but also covered other disciplines, took instructions from a client involved in an unrelated matter.

It will come as no surprise to learn that the solicitor was unavailable most mornings as that was when he was in court.

However, he neglected to explain this to the client, who, because of his own commitments, found it difficult to contact the solicitor in the afternoons.

Inevitably, the client, who became more annoyed at his inability to contact the solicitor, eventually complained about the fact that the solicitor was never available when he telephoned.

By this time, as frustration built, the client had magnified other, trivial, matters into full-blown complaints and added them on also.

The solicitor was now involved in a scenario that was going to involve him in many hours of what would have been good fee-earning time, trying to deal with the complaints.

The whole thing could have been avoided if, at the outset, the solicitor had mentioned to the client that he was usually unavailable in the mornings.

They could then have worked out between them what were the best times to make contact and the whole complaint could have been avoided.

It also makes one wonder how many other of the solicitor's clients were experiencing the same problems and what other complaints were in store.

Every case before the adjudication panel is decided on its individual facts.

This case study is for illustration only and should not be treated as a precedent