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Bar News - March 5, 2004 Learning How to Say More Than 'I Don't Know' By: Michael S. Owen Advice from the New Lawyers Committee IT BEGAN AT the family reunion when your uncle first learned you were attending law school, and recurs at every neighborhood barbecue and cocktail party for the rest of your life; mention you are a lawyer, and the questions start flying. Lawyers are expected to be "answer people." Perhaps that is why we resist saying "I don’t know" when a client seeks our advice. Saying, "I don’t know," might work at a cocktail party, but it sometimes seems highly unsatisfactory when a client seeks advice. It is not the worst thing to say, however, and guessing at a solution could be far worse. But "I don’t know," need not be the first thing you say when faced with a situation that calls for advice on something about which you are uncertain. You do have options. To illustrate: it is now approaching 6:30 p.m. and you are sitting at your desk rehearsing how you are going to break the news to your spouse, for the third time this week, that you will not make it home tonight in time to help your preschoolers get ready for bed. As you reach for the phone, an incoming call rescues you. You breathe a quick prayer of thanks for the reprieve and answer the call. It’s Margaret Jones, a client representative you met last week in a meeting with one of the partners at your firm. In a strained voice, Ms. Jones tells you about a sensitive matter that has come up earlier in the day, and says she hopes you can tell her how to recommend handling the problem when she discusses it with her West Coast CEO, with whom she has a conference call beginning in about 20 minutes. Other than at the meeting last week, you have never spoken with Ms. Jones and you are not familiar with the client’s business. Clearly she has called you because every other lawyer she knows in the firm has gone home for the day and she wants to speak with someone right away. Helping her solve this problem would meet an urgent need for the client, and might even put a feather in your own cap, too. The only problem is, you are not sure you know what to tell her to do. Of course, Margaret does not know what the solution is; that’s why she called you—and you do not want to disappoint her. You think you might have a decent idea, but you have never encountered an issue quite like this one. "Well, here goes," you think; you take a deep breath, open your mouth, and . . . Hold on just a minute! You have options. Ask questions. Asking basic journalistic-type questions to obtain a more complete picture of the problem serves at least three useful purposes: 1) It buys time; 2) It may help you understand the nature of the problem better and spot issues; 3) It may help the client spot issues. Look for help. If you practice in a firm with more experienced colleagues, tell Margaret you will track someone down to join the call and you will call her back in five minutes. Even if she has never met the other lawyer you manage to buttonhole in the hallway, whatever knowledge you have of the client can be shared easily and chances are the two of you together can come up with some pertinent advice. Explain the complications. If you have asked enough questions, chances are you will have identified issues that need to be addressed. Even if you decide you genuinely do not know how the issues can be resolved, laying out for the client what the issues are can be valuable to the client. Clients often fail to appreciate the nuances of the issues they present, and most know it – after all, that’s why they call their lawyers. Even if you ultimately cannot answer the questions, at least you have helped the client understand why you cannot "shoot from the hip." Offer to follow up. As lawyers, we add value by finding solutions, not just answering questions. In the "crisis advice" scenario posed above, offer to work toward a solution, or at least to develop the options further, and report back. You still have given Margaret something useful for her conversation with the CEO. She can identify what the issues are, and can demonstrate that she is "on top of the matter," having taken action toward a timely solution even if she does not have the solution in hand. Don’t be bullied. Margaret, and others like her, may push quite hard for a simple answer. Do not give in. It may be impossible for you to offer her a good solution or range of solutions in the time she has given you to do it. Asking questions, looking for help, explaining the complications, and offering to follow up will demonstrate concern for solving the client’s problem. After this, "I don’t know" is a better answer, and is much less embarrassing, than an answer that is confident, impressively responsive, and wrong. It may hurt to say "I don’t know," but it beats the pain of calling the client when you find out you were wrong – or having the client call you when they find out you were wrong.  Michael S. Owen, a member of the NHBA New Lawyers’ Committee, practices in Manchester at the law firm of Cook, Little, Rosenblatt & Manson, PLLC. He was admitted to the NH Bar in 1994.
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