Vol. 76, No. 4, April
2003
Determining the Client's Concerns
Consideration of the following items will help the attorney to
determine the totality of the client's concerns:
- Is there a genuine conflict requiring assistance? (If not, advise
the client that "no cause of action exists" and bring the matter to
closure, or advise the client that not every legal wrong is accompanied
with a meaningful remedy.)
- Have you helped the client articulate his or her real concerns and
enabled the client to make decisions? (Is settlement an appropriate
option?)
- Have you analyzed the client's individual circumstances? (That is,
financial situation, education level, family life, emotional makeup, the
client's value system, the sophistication of the client, and so
on.)
- What is the client's complete agenda? Have you and the client
separated the emotional components from the potential cause of
action?
- Have you explained how the legal judicial system works so that the
client can make an informed decision? (For example, rude participants,
prolonged discovery, financial implications, prior experience with the
legal system.)
- Have you defined the nature of the representation with a caveat as
to the relief the law can provide? (That is, is the client merely
looking for a "hired gun to deliver a hit"?)
- Have you addressed the client's fears?
- Have you satisfied the attorney's role as being part of a helping
profession? (For example, referral responsibilities, psychological,
rehabilitation counselor, and suicide counselor, pastoral or
spiritual.)
- Have you demonstrated respect for the client by returning phone
calls in a timely manner?
- Have you satisfied the public interest and trust mandated by the
attorney role as an attorney-counselor?
- Have you spent enough time as a counselor engaged in "preventative"
law?
In reality, it may not always be pragmatic for each item to be
"checked"; however, it is vital that as many as feasible be
addressed.
If a client is left with mental anguish at the end of the
representation, can the lawyer fairly claim to have helped him or her,
even if the client "won" the case? We attorneys help our clients by
protecting and vindicating their legal rights and ensuring that they
meet their legal obligations. These can be difficult goals to attain in
our adversarial system of justice.
Educating the Public about the Value of
Lawyers: Your Image is in Your Hands
Wisconsin Lawyers: Expert advisers. Serving you. In 2001 the
State Bar of Wisconsin began a long-term, concerted effort to brand the
legal profession ... that is, consistently use a unified message to
educate the public about the value lawyers bring to their clients and
their communities.
Before beginning its branding effort in support of lawyers, the State
Bar convened a steering committee that reviewed much of the existing
research and conducted its own. Through focus groups, we learned that
attorneys view themselves as counselors, hard working, experts,
advocates, ethical, problem solvers, and community leaders.
A formal statewide survey revealed that public respondents who used
an attorney cited "expert advice" and "problem solving" as the outcomes
they valued most in their experience. Respondents who had not used an
attorney cited "helping people solve problems" and "serving their
communities" as the characteristics that would most improve their
impression of attorneys.
The steering committee matched the commonalities between the public
and attorney input and used the result to develop a brand for the legal
profession. The tag line - Wisconsin Lawyers: Expert advisers.
Serving you. - supports the brand, that is, Wisconsin lawyers are
expert advisers, problem solvers, and people who serve the
community.
Still, as State Bar President Pat Ballman wrote in her September 2002
column, actions speak louder than words. "If we want to change the
public's perception of lawyers for the better," Ballman wrote, "we also
need to serve our clients (through expert advice and problem solving)
and serve our communities." Through research, we know that legal
consumers and the public notice and appreciate when lawyers volunteer in
the community.
We can all do something. Each effort improves society, our own
personal reputations, and the image of lawyers in general. "The State
Bar will do what it can, but ultimately the buck stops with each
individual lawyer," Ballman wrote. "We control our image by our own
individual character and actions - which speak volumes."
The Bar put together a Branding Toolkit, complete with sample ads,
the tag line (in both Spanish and English) supporting research, and
guidelines on using the brand for free use by State Bar members, their
firms, and local and specialty bars statewide. The tool kit is available
for download from www.wisbar.org/bar/brand.
The more it is used, the more the message will sink in.
Wisconsin
Lawyer
