Ten steps to dealing with colleagues
Remember that you are a professional; never make it personal or take it personally.
Guidance and Ethics 04/11/2016- Remember that you are a professional; never make it personal or take it personally. If someone else does, resist the temptation to respond in kind. Rise above it.
- Always remember that, while you are doing your best to represent your client’s interests, you are not your client. The value you bring to the relationship with your client is the ability to view the problem as an objective professional. Do not allow yourself to lose sight of this objectivity.
- Be reasonable and act with courtesy and integrity; treat others as you would like to be treated. If you wish to be treated with respect, act like someone deserving of respect. You can only control how you act; don’t let the behaviour of others dictate how you behave.
- Give your colleague a heads up and don’t deliberately seek to catch someone off-side. For instance, if you’ve made changes to a document you are negotiating, inform your counterpart and draw their attention to the changes specifically. Don’t be sneaky.
- Don’t contact the client of a colleague directly unless the other solicitor refuses to respond to correspondence and, in that case, inform your colleague in advance that you will have to contact their client directly if they continue to fail to respond. If a client moves to another solicitor, it is permissible, on receipt of an authority, to contact the client to seek an explanation of the reason for the termination of the relationship.
- Use ‘without prejudice’ for what it is supposed to be used for: as a means of facilitating open and candid negotiation between colleagues in contentious business. Remember that, after an agreement has been concluded, ‘without prejudice’ communications may be adduced in proof of the agreement.
- Understand what the solicitor’s lien extends to and how it operates. Be aware of the circumstances in which your lien no longer applies and deal with requests for files accordingly. There is no lien attaching to wills; files, deeds or documents held on trust (including ATR); or moneys held as stakeholder. If you discharge the retainer in a litigation matter, your lien may be limited to the return of the file on the outcome of the litigation and therefore of no real value.
- If the relationship with your client is over, it’s over. Just get on with it, while making sure that you get whatever you are entitled to. Deal with file handovers courteously and promptly. Do not try to hold onto something you are not entitled to, and do not overestimate the power of a lien. Bill for your work properly when you do it, and don’t depend on your ability to withhold the file as an alternative to good billing and cash-flow management practices.
- Foster and honour referral arrangements with colleagues. Mutual trust in appropriate referrals is to everyone’s benefit: clients obtain the best outcomes, and practitioners can focus on work that they do best. Don’t take on work that you are not best placed to handle and (with the client’s consent) consider referring it out to a colleague who is in a better position to deal with it. If you accept a referral on the basis, say, that you will not accept instructions in new work from that client without the consent of the referring solicitor for a given period of time, stick by that arrangement. It will be to everyone’s benefit over the longer term to have a system of mutual referrals based on trust.
- Always remember that your colleagues are probably struggling with many of the same problems as you are in their daily practices. When faced with a difficult situation with a colleague, try to take a step back and look at things from the other person’s point of view. Try taking the opportunity to meet colleagues outside work from time to time to get to know one another away from the pressures of client business. While the work we do is important, always keep it in perspective – and, if ever in doubt, review Step 1!
