2. Maintain Lean Communication With Clients, Opponents and Others

Clients hate to be kept in the dark and then blindsided. But equally, they don’t want to be burdened with every trivial detail.

It’s not that clients don’t want to hear from lawyers, of course they do. Just in the right way. Reports and advice notes, for example, are vital to clients, but the trick is to get the balance right. Clients hate to be kept in the dark and then blindsided. But equally, they don’t want to be burdened with waffle, or even with every detail. Certainly, clients don’t want to receive and be charged for unsolicited legal essays.

Think of client reporting as being inclusive not intrusive. For this purpose we should remember the keys to lean comms: Keep it relevant, direct, and concise. Make a relevant point, get directly to it and keep it concise. As we said, write little (brief, only when necessary, key points first) and write small (no hyperbole). The same is true by phone or in person. If reports and advice to clients are brief, focused, and user-friendly, the clients will be happy to receive them, and get into the habit of reading them fully. If you hold back the key point to page 28, don’t be surprised if the client never reads it.

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