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What to Do When Your Client Says You Are Not His Lawyer, but You Are
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Wait, what?
Your client just said you are not his attorney, but actually you are. You are not dreaming; this is as real as it gets.
Clients, like life, will throw you a curve ball. So how are you going to take a swing at it?
"You're Fired!"
Maybe it's not right to look at President Trump for lessons in the law because he's not a lawyer. However, he has fired more attorneys as a reality TV star whose catch phrase is: "You're fired!"
Only this time, Trump has not actually fired his attorney general. He just said, "I don't have an attorney general."
For Jeff Sessions and any other lawyer, there is a rule for that kind of problem: withdraw from representation.
The key is to do it in a professional, not-on-television way. We're talking about the best way to fire a client.
Get Out Early
FindLaw writer Mark Wilson offered three tips for terminating a bad attorney-client relationship:
- Fire the client early
- Refer the client elsewhere
- Get permission from the court
There is another option, but we don't always see it coming. It's not to swing at the bad ones.
Related Resources:
- How to Deal with Difficult Clients (FindLaw's Practice Management)
- 3 Tips to Finding Your Work-Life Balance (FindLaw's Strategist)
- Has the Internet Changed the Reasonable Person Standard? (FindLaw's Strategist)
