It seems like clients struggle in dealing with their attorney. My paralegal is telling me all the time that we attorneys are problem solvers and not great listeners. I am not sure that is totally correct but you should know that your attorney is all about getting something done for their client. We do care about you (at least most of us care about our clients). We need to talk to you when there is work to be done. We want to talk to you when you need direction on what to do. Other times, clients are way better off talking to the paralegal. If there are questions on how to fill something out or if you need to be at a court date, don't leave a message for the attorney. Your paralegal is there to walk you though everything and honestly they sometimes are better at explaining things to you. Attorneys think they are doing a great job explaining things but it is because it all seems so simple and basic to us. Often we forget that our clients don't have a clue about what is going on in their case. So if your attorney is speaking above you and you don't understand, call them out on it. It is certainly NOT intentional. We want to be helpful and make sure you understand everything. So give us a little slack once in awhile. Just let us know we need to try it again. Remind the attorney it is like talking to their computer tech guy. It seems pretty simple but if you don't speak the language, you might just be totally lost.
Another good pointer...your attorney has a ton of cases going on at all times. They are constantly putting out fires and trying to prioritize cases. If your attorney is taking a while to get back to you, use the secret weapon-- the paralegal. Our paralegals will get on to us to make sure that the client's question is answered. Sometimes we just don't have time to pull the file and take care of the issue because we have emergencies with other clients. So again, just please try and understand that your case is extremely important to the attorney; however, if we are fighting to get a child back to the custodial parent because the non-custodial parent won't return the child, or an emergency bankruptcy filing, or 500 other possibilities your question may need to wait just a little bit. It does not mean that we don't care about you or your case. It is just a fact that there is not one attorney out there that is ever "caught up". It is the nature of our profession to have a million things on our desk. Your paralegal is the best bet in resolving something a little bit faster. For me, email is great too but again, some days I don't have much of a chance to get to everybody.
So, I want you to know that I care about your case and I care about you. I am terrible with the phone because I have a million things due everyday. Email me. Call Judi to sit on me. I promise that I will do the best to represent you and give you the best service possible.
Thank you to all my clients who say "thanks" every once in awhile. I so appreciate it. If you rave about Judi, I let her know that she is appreciated by the clients.
Sometimes it is hard to look beyond our circumstances and the moment. We will help make sure that it all works out for you. Trust us and we will do all we can to help you through your legal issues.
