Day 146 - Meet with a Client in Person

Date: June 1st, 2010

After the epic camping weekend, it was time to get back to the grindstone.  On Sunday night, after the drive back from the Upper Peninsula, I had to get back in my car and get myself over to Lansing for work in the morning.  I was a little worried about what I would do for new things, given how busy my job keeps me now.  I was decidedly tired and sunburned after the trip and decided that I would simply have to do one of my backup projects once work got out.

Once I got to work, the invigoration that I've come to feel at knowing I'm finally doing what I'll be doing with my life actually kicked in.  By the time I was on my second phone call, I was definitely awake for the day.  It was one of those calls that seemed so obvious.  Here was a person who had simply been dealt a bad hand.  The person was being abused, used, treated badly and gosh darn if it wasn't going to be my job to help fix it.

When a call comes in, it is our (the interns') job to tell the attorneys all the facts, discuss the legal issues with them and tell the client their advice.  I was super excited that I'd gotten a call where, I thought, we might actually be able to do something substantial for the caller.  There are so few resources that many times we are only able to give advice and send some forms for people to fill out.  The occasions where a client is actually picked up for full representation are, for me, quite special.  Those are the times when I most feel the importance of the work.

Luckily for me, my boss agreed.  She told me to have the caller come in later that day and bring documentation of the issue along so we could review it.  I got back on the phone, gave the caller the information and prepared for our meeting in a few hours.  I spent the next chunk of time studying the specific area of law that I would need to discuss with the client and getting myself ready for my first, official, face-to-face meeting with a client.

Early on, the meeting went well.  I felt like I'd done enough research, thanks to my boss, to handle the questions I had to ask reasonably well.  A little while later, my boss came into the meeting and started asking questions as well.

Now, I'm going to pause here for a second to point out that one of the best pieces of advice that I've gotten since going to law school.  "There are always bad facts", he said.  What did he mean?  He meant that there were no perfect clients.  No matter how solid the case seems, no matter how abused the client appears; there are always at least a couple parts of the story that muddy the waters.  There wouldn't be a case otherwise.

It was advice that I had not remembered on that humid Tuesday morning.  I listened to the client's story and thought about how terrible it was without a moment's pause to think that maybe something else was going on.  As our meeting progressed, it looked like it was going to be that rare, diamond in the ruff, situation where a client actually had an airtight case.  Then our caller, as we sorted papers, answered the question "Is there anything else we should know?" with a bombshell.

It took everything in my power not to react.  The situation went from something we could help with to something we couldn't tough with a ten foot pole in one sentence.  I realized that I was experiencing the type of client that would test my resolve to do this job, but on the other extreme.  Though emotionally draining, it is easy to justify standing up for people who've been hurt and abused.  What about the client who has been treated wrong, but is culpable as well?

I surprised myself with my reaction.  Rather than not caring, being jaded or wondering why I'd wasted my time, I found myself deeply disappointed that it wasn't possible to help our caller.  Yeah, I mean, the person had messed up as well, but that doesn't make it any more acceptable that the client was being treated wrong.  It felt good not to feel a lapse in my commitment to the clients even when the bad facts make them impossible to help.

It was also good to learn the importance of asking someone if there's anything else we should know.  You never quite know what the response is going to be, but whatever it is, its probably important.