Practice checklist

• Author: Stewart I. Edelstein
• Profession: Commercial trial lawyer
• Pages: 399-422

399

PRACTICE CHECKLISTS

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Dealing with Clients

•Compl eteaconflic tscheckb eforeunder takinganyr epresent ation.

•Bewar eofscamsinunder takinganyr epresent ation.

•Dec lineaprospec tiverepre sentationifr edflagsarera ised.

•Ifyoude clinetherepre sentatio n,putitinwritin g.

•Befor edoingsubst antivework,o btainawrit tenretain eragreement .

•Cons ideralternat ivefeearrange ments:

 reducedhou rlywithper formanceb onus

 blendedrate

 fixedfee

 contingentf ee

 retrospe ctivefeeba sedonresult

 straightre tainer

 volumediscoun t

•If youunder taketh erepre sentation, meet promptly withth eclient at

yourclient’spla ceofbusines soryouroffi ce.

•Atthef irstclientm eeting:

 establishrapport

 explaintheat torney-c lientprivile ge

 explainthepurp oseofthemeet ing

 getneces saryinfor mation

 discussthed ocumentliti gationholdreq uirement

 getacommitmen tthattheclientwillde votetheresourc es

youneed (continued)

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400 | How to Succee d as a Trial L awyer

 discussop tions

 don’tpredic toutcomewi thspecif icity

 discussyourf ee

 warnyourclientabou tcommunicatin gaboutthecaseand

preserv ingtheattor ney-clien tprivilege

 askformoreinfo rmation

•Meet w ith all represent atives of your client fro m whom you need

information.

•Earlyinth erepresen tation,obt ainthedocumen tsyouneed.

•Ifyou takethe case,infor mtheclie ntwhatmu stbedo ne;arrange for

thehelpyouwillneedfromsupportstaf f,experts ,andothers;develop

anoverallstrat egy;andfollowt hrough.

•Workcolla borativelyw ithyourclient .

•Managec lientexpec tationsastot ime,cost,an dresult.

•Dealwithdif ficultclien tsbyunderstandin gwhatconcernscausethem

tobediff icult.

•When yo u need to delive r bad news to a c lient, do so pr omptly, be

direct in expl aining the signif icance o f what happen ed, and disc uss

optionsinyourst rategygoingf orward.

•In preparing your client to testif yin cour t, tailor yourpr eparation to

theexpe rience, sophistic ation,and perso nality ofyour client,f ollow-

ingthetipsinthetex t.

•Beconsc ientiousaboutcaptu ringandrecordingyourbillableandnon-

billabletimeeac hday.

•Af teryouhavecomple tedyourrepres entation,se ndalettertot hecli-

enttothateffectand,ifyouhavenotdonesoalready,informtheclient

ofotherser vicesyourfir mprovides.

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