Richard Nixon found that out the hard way. And it’s proven to be the case with some frequency since the early ‘70s. What does that have to do with family law?
Mistakes will be made. It’s inevitable. Failing to tell the client, quickly, invariably makes it worse.
It’s one thing when it’s you making the mistake – or engaging in the cover-up. It’s another when it’s one of your associates. Especially when the cover-up is not only directed at the client, it’s also directed at you. That seems MUCH worse, doesn’t it?
We deal with it by putting our clients on duty to keep an eye on things. We have our file scanner email all incoming and outgoing correspondence to the client immediately upon sending or receiving. Our lawyers see an incoming document at the same moment as the client. The emails are sent simultaneously.
This avoids the problem of the associate hesitating to deliver the bad news and burying the document. The document might be an adverse ruling, or a letter from opposing counsel pointing out a mistake, or a motion pointing out the failure to meet a deadline. The client wants and needs to know. Failing to tell the client quickly will, nearly always, result in the client being more upset than they would have otherwise been. If it starts to look like a cover-up the client will really explode.
One thing we learned, years ago, is to make it clear to the document scanner, that they are NEVER to agree to delay transmission of the document. Associates can be very persuasive and put a lot of pressure on the administrative assistant dealing with documents. Those staff members need to know that you have their back when they refuse to cooperate in the cover-up.
Associates want to do a good job. They are used to being successful. By creating a system that minimizes their options for cover-ups you help them deal with a bad situation quickly, and directly, and you avoid the temptation to take action that might be appealing in the short-term but disasterous in the long-run.
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Lee Rosen has practiced family law for more than twenty years. With three offices, 