"Can the Zebra change its stripes?" No. Unlike the Zebra, though, we can make small adjustments in our client relationships and client development efforts that will dramatically improve both our profits and revenues. What are you planning for today, tomorrow and this month to begin those changes?

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The Intake Interview: Making Expectations Clear

Clear expectations are the foundation of a successful attorney-client relationship and a profitable one for the attorney. Sooner rather than later is the key: the intake interview is the time to make your expectations clear.

During your very first meeting with each client, discuss the issue of fees. Bring it up yourself. Clients will appreciate your candor and be delighted not to have to bring it up themselves. The issue of your fees will be something the client had already considered, and it is much better to discuss the issue immediately and upfront rather than allow it to become the elephant in the center of the room.

If you want to establish a good relationship with your client from day one, you need to anticipate your client's concerns. At the first meeting, your fees will be important to the client. Moreover, the first meeting is the best possible time to make your policies about fee payment clear to your client (which means, of course, that you should have a clear payment policy in place).

Conduct that initial interview with your client as if you will have a collection problem in the future. Yes, you read that correctly. Act as if the client will develop into a slow payer or a nonpayer or a payer who promises great things and delivers only minor ones. Do this for one reason and one reason alone: the exercise will make you extremely clear about what you expect from the client. Be clear about what you expect from the client and what the client can expect from you. Tell the client now that if you are not paid in a timely fashion, you reserve the right to stop working for the client-that, in fact, you WILL stop working.

The intake interview is also a good time to ask about the client's expectations. This will set a positive tone of mutual respect.

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The Intake Interview: Making Expectations Clear

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