What Advice Do You Have for Managing Client Expectations?

What Advice Do You Have for Managing Client Expectations?

To help you effectively manage client expectations, we asked legal professionals for their best advice. From explaining legal options clearly to addressing people-pleasing anxiety, here are six valuable insights shared by attorneys and principal attorneys on this topic.

• Explain Legal Options Clearly
• Discuss Realistic Timelines
• Communicate Consistently From Start
• Provide Honest Case Assessments
• Set Realistic Roadmaps
• Address People-Pleasing Anxiety

Explain Legal Options Clearly

As an estate-planning attorney for over 40 years, managing client expectations is key. I explain legal options and potential outcomes clearly, both good and bad, so clients feel informed at each step.

For example, when a client wanted to disinherit certain family members, I cautioned that it could spur legal challenges. We explored alternatives to find a solution honoring their wishes while reducing risks. They appreciated understanding pros and cons, even if it meant more work.

I provide timelines for each stage of planning, like will drafting or trust creation, and follow up as milestones are met. Regular communication, whether quick calls or emails, helps clients feel involved and at ease.

Empathizing with the difficult emotions around estate planning is vital. Understanding a client’s anxieties or family dynamics helps craft solutions easing their mind. For one client, we prioritized a will ensuring dependents were cared for to alleviate their worries. Compassion and openness accomplish as much as legal skill.

Discuss Realistic Timelines

As an experienced business attorney, I always make sure clients understand the legal process and potential outcomes, good or bad. For example, when helping a client draft an operating agreement, I explain the importance of planning for disputes to avoid future litigation. We discuss options to balance their objectives and risks.

Providing realistic timelines and following up regularly puts clients at ease. For one client anxious about a partnership agreement, we started with a basic agreement to alleviate immediate concerns, then improved it over time as trust grew. Empathy and open communication are as important as legal expertise.

When clients want an aggressive approach that invites legal trouble, I suggest alternatives that achieve their goals with fewer risks and costs. Comprehensive advice on pros and cons helps clients make fully informed decisions and have realistic expectations about the law's limitations. Managing expectations is about transparency, not just telling clients what they want to hear.

Communicate Consistently From Start

I have found that the most important advice for managing client expectations is clear and consistent communication from the very beginning. This proved invaluable in my practice.

I find that providing realistic timeframes and discussing clearly all possibilities—that is, best-case, worst-case, and most likely scenarios—helps a lot. Most clients come in with expectations irrevocably colored by television shows or friends' anecdotes.

For example, I always spend a portion of the time in an initial consultation outlining how long comparable cases tend to take, possible expenses, and the relative chances of different outcomes. This enables me to speak in layman's terms and avoid using legalistic terminology wherever possible. This apparent candor tends to cost me a potential client now and then, one who is looking for a highly unlikely result, yet engenders trust with those who do end up hiring us.

I've also built in regular updates, even when there is no real progress to give. Clients like to know that their case is still on our radar. This proactive communication has really helped in reducing anxiety and taking the feeling away from clients that they are just being left to the wind.

Since correctly managing expectations, I have had very few client complaints, and there has been an increase in positive reviews and referrals. This approach benefits both parties and really appears to make case management much smoother while keeping clients at an extremely high level of satisfaction.

Remember, it's always better to under-promise and over-deliver than the other way around. This principle has been the cornerstone of my client relationship management strategy.

Provide Honest Case Assessments

Managing client expectations is paramount to a successful attorney-client relationship. I’ve found that clients often approach legal matters with hope and optimism, understandably seeking favorable outcomes. However, it’s especially important to keep everything in perspective by providing a clear and realistic assessment of the case from the start. I provide a detailed outline of the legal process, potential outcomes, and potential challenges for my clients so that we have an open and transparent conversation about expectations from the beginning. While maintaining a positive outlook is necessary, honesty and transparency are equally important. In my experience, by openly discussing the case's complexities and limitations, we can build trust and manage client expectations effectively. This really helps to prevent misunderstandings and disappointments as the case progresses, encouraging a stronger and more collaborative attorney-client partnership in the end.

Set Realistic Roadmaps

One piece of advice I'd give regarding managing client expectations is to be mindful of the 'emergency' mentality that many clients bring to our meetings. You see, many clients come to us in a state of panic, convinced that their issue needs to be resolved yesterday. And while I understand that every client's problem feels urgent to them, the truth is that most legal issues don't have a one-size-fits-all solution.

As lawyers, we need to take a step back, assess the situation, and provide a clear-eyed view of what's possible and what's not. That means being honest about what can be achieved in the short-term versus the long-term. I've had clients who were convinced that we could resolve a complex legal issue in a matter of days, only to be disappointed when I explain that it'll take weeks or even months.

By managing those expectations upfront and providing a realistic roadmap for what's ahead, we can avoid unnecessary stress and disappointment down the line. It's not always easy, but it's essential to set clear expectations and prioritize transparency in our communication. That way, we can work together to achieve the best possible outcome, even if it takes a bit longer than initially anticipated.

Address People-Pleasing Anxiety

I'm a psychologist, and I work with mostly lawyers in Los Angeles. Here's how I counsel my own lawyer clients: Most lawyers want to manage client expectations so they can feel less stressed and more in control. But most lawyers focus too much on trying to find the 'right words' to communicate to the client. Managing client expectations is actually about removing the people-pleasing anxiety that keeps you from being direct and clear. People-pleasing gets in the way for most lawyers, who are sometimes anxious about disappointing someone. This anxiety keeps lawyers overworking and fearful of failure. Managing client expectations is about recognizing your own people-pleasing anxiety so you can find your confident, responsible voice.