Attorneys need to get and keep quality, paying clients to stay in business. An attorney without any clients is unemployed, the same as if he lost a job working for a company. The competition for clients can be intense, particularly in an area where I live that has over 7,000 licensed attorneys in the county.
It is against this backdrop that I tell you I had to fire (give the pink slip to) a client for the first time recently. This was a quality, paying client. It was a client I had worked with for nearly six years. I do not have another client of this size ready to move in. I have lost clients and had clients that simply didn’t call me any longer. However, until now I have never made the decision to fire a client who wanted to continue to work with me.
Why did I fire the client? The costs of continuing the relationship (financial, emotional, psychological) outweighed the benefits of continuing the relationship, such benefits being primarily financial.
This decision didn’t come easily. I made it after months of thinking, analyzing and praying about it. What I realized was if I do not exercise some discretion over who I represent, I have eliminated the benefits of being self-employed. Along those lines, the toll that working on this client relationship takes on me detracts from other work and finding new clients.
I do not relish this situation nor do I take it lightly. One of my primary concerns is making certain that the client is able to transition to another attorney, to which it is better suited, with a minimum of difficulty. I don’t think so highly of myself to believe I the am only one who can represent this client.
Am I crazy to cast away a client who is quality people, pays regularly and provides a decent amount of work?
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