ABC's of Client Relations

By Terri Olson

Even in the best of law offices, clients may often have to wait before seeing the attorney. A previous appointment may be running late; the attorney could be on the telephone or tied up with an emergency. When waiting is unavoidable, the law firm's attitude towards the client's comfort and productivity during the delay can make the difference between a happy client and a discontented one. Share the following pointers with your staff to create a good reception area environment.

• The golden rule is, of course, to make the waits as short as possible. No matter the quality of the legal services offered by your firm, clients who must cool their heels for half an hour before speaking with an attorney will not be happy when they leave. If your clients routinely must wait more than 5-10 minutes before you can see them, take a look at your office and discover what is causing the problem. Some attorneys, anxious for more business, try to schedule five or six new clients an afternoon. Are you simply scheduling more appointments than you can possibly cover? And once the clients arrive, do you underestimate how long an office consultation will take? Do your clients typically arrive early? Are you tied up on the telephone with callers you can't get rid of?

• Does a staff person offer the client coffee or a soda while the client is waiting? Even the smallest office can have a coffee pot in a corner and a cup and saucer set aside for clients, or a tiny refrigerator with room for some canned drinks. Choose glass or china over paper or Styrofoam cups, especially if you have a nice china cup or mug for yourself. Providing refreshment is an extremely basic courtesy that is unfortunately often overlooked or not performed consistently, so make sure this is part of a specific person's job duties.

• Is the waiting area stocked with up-to-date magazines that reflect the interests of your clients? (I've seen far too many copies of advance sheets and the Daily Report in lawyers' reception areas!) For example, firms that cater to prosperous farmers can have agricultural journals; firms representing women in family law issues may want to have women's or parenting magazines. Instead of occasionally buying a newsstand copy, get subscriptions and replace old copies with new ones as they come in.

• If possible, find something for clients to do while waiting. If they are new clients, they can fill out information sheets regarding their matters; for other clients, you may have drafts of documents you have been working on for them to review. If your clients need to be educated about an upcoming legal process, such as a bankruptcy, divorce, civil suit, or deposition, consider getting an educational videotape (the State Bar of Wisconsin has a good series) or putting together a packet of relevant material for the clients. To protect their privacy and allow better concentration, show them to a conference room if one is free and let them work there.

• Business clients will appreciate your having a telephone in the reception area for them to use if needed. This will also avoid difficulties with breaches of confidentiality caused when staff let clients into vacant attorney offices to use the telephone.

• Clients who are upset or argumentative should be moved from a public waiting area and into a private space as quickly as possible. For one thing, they may unwittingly reveal things about their legal situations they will regret after they've calmed down. They will be grateful that they didn't have spectators for the worst of their rant. And those clients who like being in the spotlight may quickly subdue when they discover that they've lost an audience.

• If you are running late with other clients or will be unexpectedly detained in court, have your receptionist or secretary phone your appointments to let them know about the delay (don't you wish your doctor's office would do the same?). Of course, doing so means that you've remembered to record both a home and work number for your clients during their initial interview. Even if someone is coming in for the first interview, get contact numbers over the phone so you'll be prepared for this eventuality.

• If your clients tend to bring in their children with them, they and everyone else in your office will be very grateful if you provide the children with something to do. Again, even the smallest office on a shoestring can keep a few coloring books and toys in a small box in the file room. Those offices who have children in every day should invest in a small play area in the corner of the reception area with toys and books. A VCR with children's videos is a nice touch if you have quiet space for it.

• The reception area is also an important working part of your office -- the telephone is answered there; outgoing mail may be stacked up; someone may make calendar entries, etc. All of these things can lead to breaches of client confidentiality, so remind your staff to keep important papers and calendars out of view and to avoid revealing client information over the reception area telephone.

• Finally, take time every few months just to sit in your waiting area for 15 minutes or so (or have a friend drop by and give you a report). See what your clients see. Is it quiet? Are the seats comfortable? Do you overhear gossip from the halls? Are the magazines up to date? Make, or get, an honest assessment, and then renovate if needed.