accountofapro
New Member
I started practicing general practice law about 10 years ago and quickly opened up my law firm. When I opened up the firm, I was mostly taking on a very small number of clients and doing a lot of free and discount work and I was happy because I could explore issues and cases that I enjoyed. As time went on and the economy and inflation became worse and needs for living increased, I had to take on more clients. I would note that I have a more severe form of ADHD which makes me come off a little "neurodiverse". After COVID-19 clients became more abrasive and eventually escalated into the following issues:
1. Clients are not usually very friendly typically. They tend to be unappreciative and often look for ways to screw the lawyer (including by lying and otherwise) to further their interests. Clients often times are abrasive and scream. If someone is in jail, the whole family calls daily and screams things like "we paid $2000 and you only saw our relative once in the last week. If you dont get the bond hearing moved up we will be asking for money back" (when for instance I have 0 control and if I approach the prosecutor or judge about moving the case, I will probably just get yelled out; and me offering a massive discount compared to what other lawyers charge for a similar case). Many clients are uneducated and get ticked off by for instance typos made by government agencies and call and scream at my office before even asking questions. Clients often do not care about their case unless their life is about to fall apart or they are in jail (and when that happens they care too much and become obnoxiously loud). Sometimes I am forced to raise my voice at clients to actually cooperate on their own cases because otherwise they wont care to think about long-term legal interests. There is a relatively small amount of decent clients in the law field and a small set of classier lawyers (that I am not part) of take them up leaving the rest competing for problematic/uneducated/abrasive clients (not all of them are obnoxious but it is a decent percent of them). Sometimes a client would scream at you cause you were in a bathroom and didnt answer a phone call. Clients are quick to falsely accuse lawyers of being a crook etc. Sometimes clients will not come to court, to appointments, and will refuse to bring essential documents (or simply not care). If confronted, they will blame you and say you are a lawyer, they paid you money, and argue about bringing anything or doing any step of the case themselves. I often do not have the option in this economy to withdraw from cases where client is being abusive because they will demand refunds and it will strain the firm.
2. Since I offer sort of discount services, I started getting crap from other lawyers like jokes: "we clients we dont want we send them to you". When I go to bars and tell people what kind of work I do, I get ridiculed for types of cases I take on and get comments like "go program computers instead". The fact that I offer cheaper services does not mean that the clients like me more. It instead causes clients to make comments like "if I hired a more expensive lawyer, I would have gotten a better result" (despite them likely getting the best result they could and that being undisputed in the field).
3. Clients often times come with very weak cases and clients often do not see them as such and get angry if you dont want to file weak cases (and in some cases even push you to lie for them which is not allowed). Judges often times get mad over these cases. Regardless of whether I file or not file a weaker claim, someone screams at me.
4. Family law is particularly brutal. The clients tend to be assholes, call every night and dont respect boundaries or have any consideration of your life, and if you dont want to listen to them or try to suggest in any way that their irrational way of thinking is incorrect (that got them into the familial problems they are fact), they get mad and make threats or escalate tension. You cant really change the clients and a lot of times you become forced to present their absurd ideas to court and they will have a hostile relationship with you too. Opposing lawyers are not in any better. They for instance will make statements to purposefully make you feel bad or to provoke you to gain a tactical advantage in their cases. Sometimes you run into a situation where a lawyer is acting unethically but you cant do anything because they have connections with the court they are practicing in.
Does anyone here know anything about the issues I am facing or have any suggestions? I am thinking about shifting to areas of law that involve working with people less but the human aspect of my job as it stands doesnt seem too pleasant.
1. Clients are not usually very friendly typically. They tend to be unappreciative and often look for ways to screw the lawyer (including by lying and otherwise) to further their interests. Clients often times are abrasive and scream. If someone is in jail, the whole family calls daily and screams things like "we paid $2000 and you only saw our relative once in the last week. If you dont get the bond hearing moved up we will be asking for money back" (when for instance I have 0 control and if I approach the prosecutor or judge about moving the case, I will probably just get yelled out; and me offering a massive discount compared to what other lawyers charge for a similar case). Many clients are uneducated and get ticked off by for instance typos made by government agencies and call and scream at my office before even asking questions. Clients often do not care about their case unless their life is about to fall apart or they are in jail (and when that happens they care too much and become obnoxiously loud). Sometimes I am forced to raise my voice at clients to actually cooperate on their own cases because otherwise they wont care to think about long-term legal interests. There is a relatively small amount of decent clients in the law field and a small set of classier lawyers (that I am not part) of take them up leaving the rest competing for problematic/uneducated/abrasive clients (not all of them are obnoxious but it is a decent percent of them). Sometimes a client would scream at you cause you were in a bathroom and didnt answer a phone call. Clients are quick to falsely accuse lawyers of being a crook etc. Sometimes clients will not come to court, to appointments, and will refuse to bring essential documents (or simply not care). If confronted, they will blame you and say you are a lawyer, they paid you money, and argue about bringing anything or doing any step of the case themselves. I often do not have the option in this economy to withdraw from cases where client is being abusive because they will demand refunds and it will strain the firm.
2. Since I offer sort of discount services, I started getting crap from other lawyers like jokes: "we clients we dont want we send them to you". When I go to bars and tell people what kind of work I do, I get ridiculed for types of cases I take on and get comments like "go program computers instead". The fact that I offer cheaper services does not mean that the clients like me more. It instead causes clients to make comments like "if I hired a more expensive lawyer, I would have gotten a better result" (despite them likely getting the best result they could and that being undisputed in the field).
3. Clients often times come with very weak cases and clients often do not see them as such and get angry if you dont want to file weak cases (and in some cases even push you to lie for them which is not allowed). Judges often times get mad over these cases. Regardless of whether I file or not file a weaker claim, someone screams at me.
4. Family law is particularly brutal. The clients tend to be assholes, call every night and dont respect boundaries or have any consideration of your life, and if you dont want to listen to them or try to suggest in any way that their irrational way of thinking is incorrect (that got them into the familial problems they are fact), they get mad and make threats or escalate tension. You cant really change the clients and a lot of times you become forced to present their absurd ideas to court and they will have a hostile relationship with you too. Opposing lawyers are not in any better. They for instance will make statements to purposefully make you feel bad or to provoke you to gain a tactical advantage in their cases. Sometimes you run into a situation where a lawyer is acting unethically but you cant do anything because they have connections with the court they are practicing in.
Does anyone here know anything about the issues I am facing or have any suggestions? I am thinking about shifting to areas of law that involve working with people less but the human aspect of my job as it stands doesnt seem too pleasant.
