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Feature: Dealing With Difficult Clients
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May I have permission to wring your neck?
Difficult clients are the bane of every lawyer. We can all recognise a "client from hell"; the ones that send alarm bells ringing because they display some or all of these traits: they are easily angered and adopt hostile and aggressive behaviours; they are obsessive and needy; secretive or paranoid. Sometimes they are simply dishonest or a smart aleck who is constantly challenging your advice and will not follow it.
Yet, a healthy business needs happy clients who will send you repeat work and referrals; and every difficult client presents a challenge for your lawyering and interpersonal skills.
Here are some tips from the experts to help you manage a difficult client -
1. Hear Your Client Out. Avoid Arguments
Difficult clients often need to be in charge of the situation in their own minds. Let the client tell you what is wrong without interrupting. Your goal is to come to an understanding, not to win an argument. Acknowledge different viewpoints and don't allow your defensiveness to get in the way of receiving and acting upon valuable feedback. Remember that it always pays to hear the client out as there may be merit in his complaint that will help you improve your service delivery and processes.
By really listening (instead of reacting) and trying to see things from the client's point of view, you may perceive that the underlying emotional states that have driven the complaint have nothing to do with the quality of work you are delivering. What appears to you to be overly critical or irrational responses may be an expression of the client's feelings of stress, anxiety or powerlessness over his situation. In such cases, the simple act of listening will go a long way towards diffusing the situation.
2. Define Expectations
Whether you like it or not, a lawyer is very often in the position of a counsellor dispensing not just dispassionate legal advise but acting as a sounding board for the client.
Often clients are difficult for lawyers to deal with, at least in part, because they have unrealistic expectations about the services you will provide, or the outcomes you can achieve for them. Some clients’ expectations or goals are totally outside the realm of what legal services could ever achieve. It is important to identify, as early as possible, what the client’s expectations are in retaining a lawyer to deal with this particular issue.
3. Define a "successful outcome" for the interaction
After the client has finished venting, you can say: "I understand exactly how you feel, and I know you're right, but I need your help to solve this, would you help?" This posture usually softens them and they will be more ready to get down to resolving the problem in a practical and hopefully, rational way. Your offer to help signals your willingness to participate in the resolution of the issue at hand.
Note that "Success" need not necessarily be defined by the total resolution of the problem (your clients demands may be impossible to fulfill). However, you can define success as what will make the client happy during this conversation; then explain how and why the solution you have recommended at this time is the first step towards addressing the client's overall issue.
Try to make a verbal agreement with the client. Gaining the clint's agreement means that they share ownership of the issue with you, and you can work together towards a resolution with which everyone will be happy.
If you have offered a solution, make it genuine and act upon it. If you are only paying lip service in your offer to help, you will be found out and your standing in the eyes of your client will be further diminished.
4. Protect Yourself
Document everything you possibly can, including telephone calls and e-mail messages. Confirm your advise to the client in writing. In your attendance notes, it may also be necessary to include, in writing, the possible consequences of various courses of action the client may be contemplating. The difficult client has a way of turning on the lawyer more often and with more damaging consequences than other clients.
5. Draw the Boundaries
As in all your relationships, personal or professional - there are standards of interaction have you set that you will not allow to be violated. What's negotiable and non-negotiable? These are your boundaries for defining the relationship. Once a boundary is crossed, take stock by asking yourself what's keeping you in the relationship? As much as you may hate to give up, not all relationships are worth saving. When you're putting in more energy than you could ever hope to reasonably receive - that's the time to consider walking away.
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