Law isn’t about what’s legal and illegal; it’s about serving clients.

Law students, too many lawyers, and most non-lawyers think that lawyers tell clients what they can do and what they can’t — what’s “legal” and what’s not. This caricature is so far from the truth it’s laughable. Lawyers serve clients, and there is so, so much more that drives client decision making than what the law states (except, perhaps, in those exceedingly rare instances when the law mandates a certain decision).

So it’s refreshing that Settlement Perspectives reviews the kinds of questions clients want to hear from their lawyers but don’t hear often enough. Perhaps the most important one is this:

What is an acceptable outcome in this matter?

The article goes on to list a number of other questions of particular import to clients, including this one, perhaps most immediately comprehensible to my first year students:

In the case of a litigated matter, on the continuum between winning and losing, what is considered acceptable? Is there a possibility for success short of complete victory? Prevailing without success? Not prevailing but not losing?

(Hat tip to What about Clients?)

Nightmare clients – get rid of them before the nightmares become real.

I wouldn’t want to represent Courtney Love if there is truth in one-tenth of the allegations of what Ms. Love has said and written about the plaintiff-fashion designer who apparently had the temerity to charge Ms. Love for the dresses designed for her. The First Amended Complaint filed by the Plaintiff is available from J.D. Supra. I would quote from it, but there is so much, and much of it is so over the top that it just makes me feel sad. 

The thought of representing Courtney Love (and risking what happened to the clothing designer she had pursued and then turned on) reminds me of another posting by J.D. Supra: “10 Actions Every Lawyer Should Take in 2009,” and, in particular, number 4:

Eliminate your worst clients. You know which ones I mean – the ones that don’t listen to you, don’t respect you and/or don’t pay you. You’re not obligated to work for free, and clients that don’t take your advice, don’t cooperate, aren’t honest with you or don’t pay you create conflicts and take you away from your best clients. Change your retainer agreement if you have to, make a motion to the court to be relieved if you must, but get out of client relationships that suck you dry. 

The advice reminds me of the maxim of a law professor I once knew: a lawyer is not a bus; you need not take on everyone who gets on board. Choose, and retain, your clients wisely.