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Bar News - February 9, 2001 A Simple One: Returning Phone Calls By: Joseph N. Laplante Professionalism AS THE MOST junior member present at the Professionalism Committee's December meeting, I was bestowed the honor of writing the committee's first Bar News piece for 2001. This month's topic is simple: returning phone calls. My first full-time legal job was with one of the larger Manchester law firms. I had worked there as a summer associate, and started in earnest in 1990 after passing the bar exam. I don't know how things work today, but back then brand new associates didn't really work on cases. They worked on "projects." Research projects. Organizational projects. Discovery and document production projects. One early evening I was checking in with a partner who had assigned me a "project." He had a stack of phone messages in front of him, and was returning the calls, in order, from the top of the stack to the bottom. As the next few weeks went on, I noticed this same partner doing the same thing at the same time, almost daily. I asked him about it, and his response was terse, as usual. "You should never leave this office at the end of the day before you've returned all of your phone calls." Then he sort of stared at me over his glasses, as if to say, "Now go back to your office. Come bother me after I've finished returning my calls." I took the hint. I picked up the habit then, without really considering its importance in the context of professionalism. I thought it was one of our firm rules, like not greeting clients in the lobby in your shirtsleeves, and letting the insurance carriers and banks win the after-work softball games (uh...just kidding). But it was great advice, from a senior member to a junior member of a great profession, and one of several gems this particular partner effortlessly dropped on me over the next three years. He later added refinements like, "You should never leave this office at the end of the day without returning all of your calls-especially to other lawyers." Or, "especially to clients." And of course, "especially to potential clients." In other words, especially to everyone. Think about it. We've all had people-lawyers and nonlawyers alike-thank us "for getting back to me so quickly." We've thanked people ourselves for doing so. It shouldn't surprise us that people appreciate responsiveness, and value prompt responses even more. Prompt responses tell other lawyers that we understand that we're all trying to move our cases forward, to facilitate progress; that we're all in the same boat. An unwritten rule that we will get back quickly to our colleagues in the bar can and should be something that binds us together and facilitates collegiality. It tells clients that we value them, that we understand our role is to serve them, and that they are at the top of our priority list. It also validates our professionalism by demonstrating that our prompt responsiveness back when they were only potential clients was not a facade or some sort of bait-and-switch. Ask anyone you know who has ever sat on the Professional Conduct Committee. Failing to return phone calls consistently is one of the most common refrains of clients who make formal complaints against their lawyers. We all enjoy reporting good news, but even if it's bad news or no news, clients want that call back. For lawyers in the public sector (like myself), other government officials are the functional equivalents of clients. They represent our actual client-the public-and should be treated accordingly. So what's the best way to be prompt and responsive, and consistently so? There are probably as many ways as there are lawyers. Some return all messages on a rolling basis, as they receive them. Others find this too inefficient and disruptive, and devote one or two time periods a day-perhaps just before lunch and just before quitting time-to returning calls. For trial lawyers constantly shuttling between far flung hearings and depositions-or, for that matter, business and transactional lawyers shuttling between closings and clients' offices-checking voicemail from a cell phone and returning calls can be a real efficiency booster. Speaking on the telephone is one of the few things that can be done effectively-though not necessarily safely-while driving. Regardless of which method you choose, adhere to it. And follow the advice given to me-never leave the office at night with phone messages unanswered. At the very least, it will be one thing you won't have to deal with in the morning. Joseph N. Laplante is an assistant US Attorney in the US Attorney's Office in Boston and a member of the NH Bar's Professionalism Committee.
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