While tackling tough cases on a daily basis and juggling the many duties they have, lawyers often overlook the importance of having effective and clear communication with their clients. One of the biggest problems most law firms face is maintaining effective communication with their clients. This is dangerous as not having a clear communication channel can be the stand-alone factor of why the case might fail.
Ensuring easy and effective communication with your client could help win the case with much more ease, while a lack of it could doom the case.
Here are three ways you can improve your communication methods.
Don’t Always Behave Like a Lawyer
Even if your profession is that of a lawyer, at the end of the day, you are still a person. And so is your client. When delivering bad news to a client, it’s better to put the lawyer hat aside for a while and actually empathize with your client for their troubles or losses. This is a basic principle of human psychology as upon hearing certain case updates, the client will almost always go into a state of distress and often lash out. Empathizing and giving them time to gather their thoughts before going into a legal debate will work wonders for the lawyer-client relationship.
Avoid Creating Unreasonable Client Expectations
During the first few meetings with a client, it’s best to avoid giving them false hope or expectations. This may lead the client to expect things that were only possible if it was a “best-case scenario.” Failure to meet these expectations would only result in the clients feeling disappointed, even if you had a stellar performance.
One way to avoid this mistake is not to use specific numbers when talking to clients initially. Numbers are too concrete and something the client would latch onto and expect to match in the future. However, in reality, those numbers were only possible if everything worked out exactly as you foresaw, which is hardly ever the case.
Use Client Portals
Communication portals are an absolute must in today’s day and age. With the world becoming more digitized, it’s important to keep up and provide clients with the advantages of this technology. Having a web-based communication portal allows clients to access any information they want, whenever they want it, giving them peace of mind.
Most times clients, just like to stay updated, but a lawyer is too busy to keep informing them of all these tiny updates. This is where portals shine; clients will have all the basic information they need readily available to them 24/7 without having to consult the lawyer every time.
At the Law Offices of Norley E. Castañeda, we pride ourselves in delivering the best results to our clients by ensuring a close personal relationship with our attorneys. From personal injury to criminal defense, we offer the best possible legal representation. With us, you can rest assured that your case is in good hands. Contact us now and get a free evaluation for your case.