A lawyer conducts legal research and interprets laws, rulings, and regulations. Their responsibilities include writing legal documents such as deeds and wills and filing appeals and lawsuits. They might supervise paralegals or legal assistants, but their main goal is to ensure a fair trial in criminal cases and represent individuals and corporations in civil lawsuits.
As advisors, attorneys assist their clients in navigating the sometimes-tricky legal system by educating them on their rights and the processes of law. Lawyers or firms cannot completely alleviate the stress experienced by clients during legal battles. However, to throw light on different ways in which your lawyer can reduce a client’s stress, we have listed a few ways.
Let’s check out some methods that lawyers and legal firms can use to reduce their client’s stress, beginning with transparency in all communication.
Transparency in communication
Without effective communication, lawyer-client relationships quickly deteriorate, resulting in misunderstandings and mistrust. The focus should be on the people with legal problems, not only on legal matters. An individual with mesothelioma, for instance, approaches a law firm to help him find justice in a legal fight against corporations and federal entities that are very powerful. He approaches a legal firm specializing in mesothelioma cases, such as Sokolove law, because he needs assurance that his grievance will be well-represented in any legal negotiation. Trust is crucial in this association, as the client needs to communicate all the case details to his lawyer so the lawyer can give an honest evaluation.
In addition, people living with personal injuries like an illness or handicap need empathy because they are still trying to heal emotionally from the trauma of the circumstances in which they find themselves. Law firms understand that their clients are normal individuals going through a difficult time, and if they build trust through empathy, they are less likely to feel anxious.
Likewise, when delivering disappointing information to a client, lawyers must remember that the client may be experiencing complex emotions at the time. Therefore, sensitivity is called for in all communications, not just business and legal issues. First, consider the client’s feelings and allow them to process the news. Then, only provide the client with a plan of action when they are ready to hear possible solutions.
Create a welcoming, warm environment
If a client feels welcome and comfortable, it can ease their anxiety about hiring the right lawyer or taking legal action. Therefore, it’s essential to create a welcoming environment in the law firm and bolster the feeling of warmth and security in every client interaction.
Your reception area should be your priority. Your receptionist must be friendly, attentive, and able to attend to small details. Similarly, it would help if you offered refreshments to your prospective clients. Water, coffee, candy, snacks, and interesting reading material should be available.
Small gestures can make clients feel welcomed, such as offering “insider’s” directions during rush hours or providing convenient parking options. Alternatively, you can negotiate a parking validation agreement with a nearby facility to eliminate the need to charge parking fees when your clients visit your office. Because of this attention to detail, clients have fewer stressors to deal with that may negatively affect their attorney-client relationship.
Timeliness and responsiveness
The word “responsive” refers to an ability to respond promptly. You should reply to emails and phone calls no later than the next day. Even a quick reply like “I received your voicemail and I will call you tomorrow” will suffice to reassure your client.
The key to being responsive to clients is anticipating their needs and responding in a way that addresses them. You can provide this level of responsiveness by becoming intimately familiar with the client’s business and understanding their communication expectations. For example, is the client interested in being cc’d on every email message or only on those that require an important decision? Does the client prefer to receive a summary of issues in the mail or to have questions answered over the phone?
Keeping up to date
It’s common for some clients to assume everything is well until told otherwise. The majority of clients, though, expect regular updates. If you don’t let them know what progress is being made, they will assume nothing is happening. Therefore, keep clients informed of any progress on their case via email, even if it only states that it is “on hold.”
The key to reducing client stress is knowledge. Therefore, the lawyer/law firm must keep their clients informed about all the progress that’s being made so the clients don’t have to deal with unnecessary stress and anxiety.
Setting the right expectations
A client’s unreasonable expectations can cause them to become stressed more quickly than anything else. Despite the fact that setting proper expectations sounds simple, it can be far more challenging in practice. Clients are sometimes misled by lawyers when it comes to possible outcomes. A lawyer may also raise client expectations by touting – with several conditions – an ideal outcome.
Sadly, many clients will only remember the scenario and completely ignore the limitations, resulting in unreasonable expectations. Even with the best legal representation, disappointment or unhappiness ensues if the “best-case scenario” doesn’t end up being true.
Payment transparency and timeliness
To minimize client stress, issue a transparent invoice outlining legal services, breaking work into easily understandable sections, and clearly showing discounts. Invoices showing what steps the firm took and how it utilized finances on behalf of the client will ease some of the client’s worries and help them understand fees, appreciate what they’re getting, and pay without hesitation.
If you wish to generate comprehensive invoices, keep track of time on a daily or hourly basis. Maintain an accurate record of all time and tasks that you plan to add to the bill. It would help if you wrote invoices in layman’s terms so clients can easily comprehend them. A transparent billing process also means communicating with clients in a way they can understand.
It is vital to send invoices periodically, usually every month after work’s complete. Additionally, it would be best if you did not wait for the end of the lawsuit to send a cumulative bill, as smaller invoices are more likely to be approved and paid. It is essential to bill clients as soon as possible to prevent “sticker shock” due to accumulated bills. Billing clients frequently and on time will also enable them to manage their budgets better internally, something they will appreciate.
Final Words
In all, a lawyer can significantly lower their client’s stress level even before their legal matter is resolved. The goal of lawyers and law firms should be to provide more than just legal advice to their clients.
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