Legal Marketing & PR

If all else fails, sue!

By Edward Poll, J.D., M.B.A., CMC

It's very hot where I am today --- over 100 degrees. Many parts of our country are facing one natural disaster or another. Sweltering heat, overrun rivers, fires, etc. You name it, and Nature seems to be telling us that she is in control, not us.  Can we do something to address Nature's wrath? In many cases, the answer is yes ... be sure we have enough power for air conditioning, build the levees well enough to withstand the "500 year storm," etc. You get the idea.  There must be the political will to do this.

Likewise, in our law practice. Clients get angry with us, they have financial reverses, they didn't get the result they expected or, for some unknown reason, they just don't pay their bill. Can we do something to avoid this situation? More so than with weather, the answer is "yes." We can be more proactive in both our intake session --- setting reasonable expectations --- and we can be more vigilant monitoring our clients' behavior after our billings are mailed, making sure we get paid for work we do or we stop working before the client will be prejudiced by our cessation.

I discuss some of these scenarios in my book, Collecting Your Fee: Getting Paid from Intake to Invoice, which is mentioned in today's LawBiz® Tips alongside my article, "If All Else Fails, Sue."

Full post as published by Law Biz Blog on June 23, 2008 (boomark / email).