Clients will often come to an attorney looking to solve one particular legal problem. An attorney, in his or her role as a counselor, will sometimes find other problems that the client did not even know that they had. Some of these problems may seem to arise only after the attorney has addressed the original problem. This is not simply because lawyers are always looking to collect extra fees from their clients (though it may seem that way at first). This is how they manage their clients’ risks.
One way to think about this is through an analogy: a visit to your doctor.
If you are feeling ill for longer than you think is normal, then you will visit your doctor. Your doctor may not immediately know what exactly is wrong with you even as he or she diagnoses you with an infection. Your doctor will order some tests and in the meantime may treat you with a broad spectrum of antibiotics while he or she waits for your test results. Only then will your doctor be able to more effectively treat your particular illness.
Once you are healthy again, your doctor may then also prescribe an injection for a virus that has spread in your community lately. You may not like needles, but it could be necessary for your long-term health. During your illness, you may have become particularly susceptible to this particular virus. Or it may even be entirely unrelated to your illness, yet still be a good idea.
If you imagine that the particular legal problem that you knew you had is the bacterial infection for which you saw your doctor, then the antivirus injection is the further steps that your attorney may recommend to prevent other legal issues you may not see coming. Just as a local doctor knows what viruses are common in his local community of patients and how best to prevent you from catching it, an experienced attorney is similarly aware of the common legal pitfalls that his other clients have faced and he may know what steps you should take to help manage your risks.
This is the difference between being sick and being inoculated against future sickness. You may be grateful to your attorney for helping you solve your immediate most problem, but you may also still be smarting from the legal costs from fixing it. A good attorney understands this. So when he or she suggests further measures to help protect your interests, it may be that he or she is really trying to save you from even greater cost and legal troubles in the long run. He has your long-term legal health in mind.
I have been witnessing a similar situation play out in Nepal. Our firm had helped a client win a very important case and thus gained a great amount of trust with them. Many of the client’s immediate problems had to with the laws affecting foreign direct investment in Nepal. Once those major issues were addressed, our law firm’s client was ready to breathe a little easier. But then our attorneys began to point out other potential legal issues. The client suddenly felt insecure—that they “weren’t out of the woods yet”—but, of course that was not our firm’s intention. We really were looking out for the client’s best interests: their long-term legal health. It is sometimes difficult to convey this message to foreign clients, when the primary means of communication are emails or phone conversations in a second or third language. This is part of the nature of having foreign clients eager to invest in Nepal: sometimes an attorney may only be able to meet with their client face-to-face a few times a year.
Excellent communication remains the key to resolving client’s issues that arise in the regular course of business and managing longer-term risks. Perhaps this doctor-patient analogy will prove helpful in this regard.