The Frequency Of Contact Between You And Your Lawyer In The Personal Injury Case
Max Kennerly, a fellow Philadelphia trial lawyer wrote an interesting blog post a few weeks ago which I'd like to share with my readers here. It puts into perspective the balance which has to be maintained between professional and personal life for lawyers who do the type of work that we do. This is sometimes a rule more kept in its violation than in its practice, as I write this post at 6:30 p.m. on a Monday, after my wife just called asking when she should have dinner ready, and after I finished a very long call with a client.
Here's some of what Max says:
But there are only so many hours in the day. Even if a lawyer obsessed about their cases every hour of the day — which we don't want them to do, since it will cloud their judgment — they still wouldn't be able to explain every hypothetical possibility to the client.
Fact is, if a client wants a perfect lawyer, they need to find one willing to devote their entire practice and personal life to their case alone.
The rest of us imperfect lawyers use two techniques: triage and ticklers.
Triage is just like in the hospitals: we attend to the most pressing matters first. David Dow, who represents defendants on Texas' death row, is one of the most respected lawyers in America, yet his The Autobiography of an Execution concedes letting cases go by the wayside for months, sometimes years. He's a less than perfect lawyer, and understandably so: he can't hunt down every trace of exculpatory evidence for a client whose execution is years away when another one of his clients is weeks, days or hours away from death. My triage in civil litigation doesn't carry as much gravity, but it's no less real: I must prioritize the most urgent matters. I do the same for every client when their matter becomes the most urgent matter.
A "tickler" (part of a "tickler file") is a funny name that lawyers dreamed up for "reminder." Litigators in particular are always on some sort of deadline, either by way of the statute of limitations, a deadline for filing or responding to a motion, the closing of discovery, the submission of expert reports, the preparation for a hearing, the taking of a deposition, or trial. Sometimes, the necessary work can be done in minutes. Sometimes it will take weeks. The ticklers are ways of interrupting the triage to point out that work due later needs to be started now....
If you want someone to teach you the intricacies and contradictions of the law, that's available, just be ready for $60 for each courtesy email. But if you've hired someone on a contingent or fixed fee to do battle, it's not unreasonable for them to contact you only as necessary and as useful for your case.
For my clients, if you haven't heard in a while and don't know the status, please write or call, and we'll put your call in the triage and the tickler file and get back to you. If we don't get back to you in a few days, call again. (Email is even better, since I get it outside the office.) If you've learned of or thought something interesting, please write or call, and I'll consider it. Otherwise, I'll contact you when necessary and useful for your case, such as when you need to review an allegation, prepare for discovery, or consider an offer, and I'll forward you the court filings I made on your behalf.
I try to be available to all of my clients by way of office phone, cell phone, e mail (or of course through contact that clients have with my employees), as much as humanly possible. Some of my colleagues say I am too available, and they opt for a different system. Like Max, if you can't reach me I am probably in court or in a deposition.
Right now, I have to leave to go home and eat dinner.
