As I get ready for the holidays, I’m thinking about how to make a criminal practice more pleasant and rewarding.
Each year, we finish difficult cases with challenging clients, ones we
sometimes wish we hadn’t taken on. So here I go with some new year’s
resolutions for criminal lawyers.
- Never take a cheque from a client charged with fraud.
- Don’t give your e-mail address to a client charged with harassment.
- The same goes with your cellphone number.
- The Crown attorney isn’t your enemy.
- If you are a Crown, the defence lawyer isn’t your enemy.
- The Crown is your adversary but may yet be your friend.
- Your client isn’t your friend.
- You aren’t your clients’ friend. Don’t try to solve all of their problems.
- Reminder: clients don’t like to pay lawyers.
- Send a letter after the first meeting to confirm the retainer.
- The initial retainer may be all you ever receive. Make it a good one.
- Indigent clients often don’t like applying for legal aid.
- Clients will avoid coming to court. Never see someone who’s wanted in your office.
- Only wait a half-hour at the courthouse for people turning themselves in.
- Some clients need either a male or female lawyer.
- Some people can’t maintain a relationship with a lawyer.
- Shut your office on Friday afternoons, which is often when strange people call with emergencies.
- Put aggressive phone solicitors on hold. Disconnect the call after two minutes.
- Preparation, preparation, and more preparation.
- Inventory disclosure and follow up on it.
- Never double-book yourself.
- Arrive early for court, as per the early bird.
- Don’t rent office equipment. Buy what you can afford.
- With difficult clients, define the ground rules or decline the retainer. Ask yourself why you’re the third lawyer they’ve consulted.
- Don’t despair. Calendars do fill up.
- Life is short, so take a trip.
- Take some more trips.
- Pro bono work can be very satisfying.
- What goes around comes around.
- Some cases aren’t worth doing.
- How do you really feel about winter driving?
- What is the feng shui of your office? Do you care? I do.
- Candy dishes make clients happy.
- Addicts with cargo trousers may take all of the candy, so don’t leave too much out.
- What will the next year look like with or without Mr. X as my client?
- Ten per cent of clients give you 90 per cent of your problems.
- Your practice should make you happy and not just give you a living.
- Write a fun column.
I’m currently thinking about the year I had and the files I closed in 2010. I did a lot of travel that wasn’t very exotic.
In the last couple of weeks, I’ve refused to take cases that would cast a pall over yet another holiday season and the next year. With more time to get ready for the holidays, I feel freer and more relaxed. So do my staff.
Rosalind Conway is a certified specialist in criminal litigation. She can be reached at [email protected].
