Separating Emotion to Understand Concern; Active Listening

Prior to the first week of class I handled a dispute with a client over the work performed by the attorney I work for. The client was very upset that the attorney was not contacting them as much as they wanted them to about the progress of the case. In this instance it was concerning the Judge’s granting of a particular motion. We had previously informed the client that we would contact them as soon as the Judge ruled on the motion. However, the Client did not understand that the process of getting a ruling on a motion could take several weeks depending on the Judge’s caseload. The Client was concerned that we were avoiding him. Asking more about why he felt that way I was able to determine that he thought that us avoiding him meant that we had bad news about the case and that he just wanted to make sure that we were still confident in the success of our case. Listening to his concerns and understanding why he had those concerns has helped us in our future correspondence with the client. We, rather than get frustrated with daily calls, have determined that all the client wants was our reassurance. Since we reassured the client, the client has become more open to waiting for a ruling and has become more confident that this case will yield a positive outcome for him.