Practice Management

You Are A Lawyer - You Haggle

By chucknewton

I think that Rick Georges at Future Lawer is right that lawyers should not feel bad about haggling over money.  Most of us somehow grow up thinking professionals do not quibble over prices and services.  After all, we are in the service business and we do not like it.

It is, after all, in the DNA of a lawyer to haggle.  We are trained to be haggling machines.  Whether a trial lawyer, transactional lawyer or just a rainmaker you are forced to do so in the best interest of your clients every day and in almost every way.  It then seems strange that you cannot or will not do so for yourself or your firm.

What I have learned over the years, especially in the solo practice of law, is that holding onto money is almost as important as actually making money.  That is the really the underlying principal of the Third Wave practice of law -- to be a skinflint and spend as little money as possible on overhead and costs.  Every dime you spend on such things is one dime you will not have to provide for your family, yourself or your retirement, your kids education and your overall security.  If you do not have enough money left over, then you do not like the practice of law.  So, if you can spend a little less on those things you are going to buy anyway, all the better.

Part of the problem is how the issue is framed and the language employed.  The term "haggler" is not a found term as it kind of relates to the days of the bazaar when vendors and buyers argued over everything, and no price is set.  We all have bad memories of trying to deal with used car dealers, and since lawyers are one rung up from used car dealers, we do not need that stigma.  Of course, there are worse terms to describe essentially the same thing.  You could think of yourself as a horse-trader, or a huckster or a dicker.  I always shied away from the term to "traffic in".  It is not good to traffic in anything.

In Texas we tend to "wrangle" over things.  But, sometimes we are just looking for a freebie.  For example, we use to show up to class in the old days and find we were out of paper.  Some people would learn over to the person next to them and ask, "can I borrow a piece of paper from you".  Well, that was a lie because we all knew we did not intend to return the paper or replace the paper.  In East Texas we are a little more blunt.  We are apt in the same situation to lean over and ask, "can I steal a piece of paper from you".  But, this is not true either because you cannot steal a piece of paper if the person gives it to you freely.  The statement is more accurate, however, because it is implicit in the statement that the paper is not going to be returned or replaced.

But, is this not a form of haggling?  We learn from an early age that haggling is the basis of commercial life.  It is the basis of obtaining what we need and affording what we want.

I haggle every day.  I recently haggled with several online legal research providers, pitting one against the other, to get the best price.  They went from $500.00 a month to $285.00 per quarter.  Almost every year I haggle with insurance companies over the extent of my coverage and the costs.  I recently had someone pull money out of my one of my bank accounts that was not suppose to at that time.  It caused an overdraft, and an overdraft fee.  I haggled with my bank to remove it.  Sure, it was only $34 and it took me an hour.  However, it goes back to the point that it is probably harder to hold onto money than it is to make it.  Both are important, and if you do not haggle, you will not be hanging onto your money for very long.

Now, I am not telling you to go as far as one lawyer I know who like to tell everyone, "If you are not suing me, I do not owe you money".  That probably has adverse consequences in the long run.

Here is the point - you are not going to succeed in the private practice of law if you do not aggressively keep your spending under control.  This requires diligence and haggling.  So, you had better get use to it.

Of course, I think whether we appreciate the device all depends on exactly how we imagine it.  Lawyers do not like the image of haggling.  That is okay.  The word "bargain" is good, as in we receive the "benefit of the bargain".  And, "compromise" is firmly within the lawyer's lexicon.  We compromise everyday.  And, then there is "negotiate".  It does not sound as harsh and opportunistic as haggle.   So, lets just say it is important to negotiate many of the costs and expenses that we all face everyday.

Full post as published by Chuck Newton on February 17, 2008 (boomark / email).