Talking about the tangibility of lawyers' legal services

Liu Wenguo Lawyer: Shandong University, Bachelor of Laws, worked in a large state-owned enterprises engaged in management affairs for nearly twenty years. Specialties: criminal legal affairs, labor disputes, corporate legal affairs, work-related injuries and personal injury compensation cases.
ZhangYongQiang lawyer: shandong university law degree, business specialties: company enterprise legal affairs, contract legal affairs, bill dispute, traffic, medical, school, work accident dispute, marriage and family disputes, labor disputes, criminal legal affairs.
The legal services provided by lawyers are intangible, and the amount and value of labor cannot be perceived intuitively. Clients have doubts about the labor of lawyers and find it difficult to trust them. Is it worthwhile to charge lawyers such high fees for a few words or a few strokes of writing? Clients ignore the lawyer labor, the case is won that is the result of course, do not ask the lawyer also won; Case lost is complaining about, denigrate the lawyer work, and then complain about the lawyer, and even at the expense of the former agent to the court. Lawyer but feel very wronged, pay labor is not understood, not to mention respect, but also caused a lot of trouble, so that the lawyer business boredom, irrational thinking about human nature.
Lawyer labor is a kind of complex labor, and lawyers do not have their own labor products tangible fixed after presenting to the customer, a lot of problems are due to this.
The following roughly according to the civil litigation business in the process of communication between lawyers and clients to talk about a little experience in this regard, with you to exchange.

First, before accepting the commission
Lawyers should first set up their own legal services to provide a tangible sense of awareness, this awareness throughout the lawyer-client relationship. From the beginning of the contact between the lawyer and the client, the lawyer should be their services tangible.
Before formally accepting the commission, the way and content of mutual communication should be fixed. Lawyers should fill out the “legal advice registration form”, a detailed record of the client's identity, brief case, the lawyer for the client's legal questions and answers to the main points of the client's opinion and contact information, and finally must let the client sign and seal. On the one hand, these information can be processed, organized and categorized management, for the future analysis of the market, open up the source, the study of the legal effectiveness of the case data are valuable; On the other hand, the customer will feel a rigorous and responsible style of work, appreciate the work of lawyers formally, solemn, thus increasing the customer's sense of trust.
Second, accept the commission process
Lawyer to file a registration form, commission contract, power of attorney, law firm letter and other instruments, all blanks are filled out in front of the customer complete, after the customer signed, the content of these instruments, function, legal significance to the customer to explain clearly. General law firms have a fixed format of the “risk communication”, in addition, the lawyer in the analysis of the case, but also according to the specific case to produce a targeted, forward-looking “case risk communication” (note: the risk communication in the acceptance of the entrusted after the signing of the narrative is simple to mention here) for the client to sign, the client will feel that you on the merits of the case is after serious thinking, careful analysis, and put in a lot of effort! The It is the client's risk to inform and the lawyer's risk to avoid.
The lawyer to provide legal services category, commission authority, service stage, agency fees, etc., all to be fixed in the process of accepting the commission, and hand over a copy of the customer for reference; such as reducing or exempting agency fees, but also fill out the “agency fee waiver approval form”, record the type of the case, the subject matter, the reason for the waiver, waiver of the amount of the approval of the staff, so that the customer to sign to confirm, in order to reflect the lawyers' fees system of strict and standardized. And standardized. Especially lawyers collect litigation fee, collect the case of travel expenses, communication costs, etc., must be standardized through the financial department, to avoid future disputes. Lawyers handle the case of travel expenses and other documents, not only is the settlement documents, is also a lawyer to pay the labor of the show.

III. After acceptance of the commission and before the hearing
(A), the conversation transcript. After accepting the commission first from the client's statement and the lawyer and the client's communication to understand the case, a lot of customers tend to take the lawyer as a judge, think the lawyer is a neutral, the referee, to the lawyer's statement are with tendency, the lawyer must be in the form of the “transcript of the conversation” to this link fixed. If the case in the later process, due to the customer statement is not true and unfavorable to the client, after the lawyer analysis, the customer will not be difficult to blame the adverse consequences of lawyers, only to blame themselves dishonest.
(ii) Evidence retention. Usually, the lawyer retains the client's evidence must be a copy, and in the “evidence submitted to the record sheet” in the clear evidence of the name, the number of copies, the number of pages, in the notes column indicates the copy of evidence, the most important thing is to be signed by the client, “the original evidence has been retrieved”, so as to avoid loss of the original evidence to the lawyer to bring unnecessary trouble to prevent the dishonest client to fight back. Honest customers to prevent the risk of counterattack. Customers see you so cautious, strict, will be more assured that things to you.
(C), read the file. To the court to make a detailed reading of the “reading transcript”, including the first few reading, reading time, location, reception judge, excerpts, etc.. For a variety of reasons, some cases require several reading, the lawyer should be every reading related to the situation recorded, and even with the judge's contact process, waiting time, etc. should be recorded, to inform the client of your labor.
(D), investigation and evidence collection. Lawyer investigation and evidence collection regardless of whether the final evidence, it is best to produce the following several instruments. First of all, the “investigation and evidence collection work plan”, the investigation and evidence collection time, place, contact the object, access to the way as well as possible problems, in the form of solicitation of customers to inform the client; and then the “investigation and evidence collection work record”, a detailed record of the work process and the content; and finally, the “analysis of the evidence and questioning the views”, so that lawyers to further in-depth case, when the court is ready to go to court, will be the most optimal and most concise language presented to the Court, whether the customer or the judge will be impressed by your work on behalf of.
(E), the idea of work. For the more complex cases, lawyers must be carefully studied to the collective discussion after the production of “the case agent work ideas”, the lawyer's thinking process to show to the client, so that the lawyer's representation will be better. Otherwise, the customer see just you read in court on the side of the legal documents prepared in advance, and lawyers but several times reading, constantly querying information, writing and revising the legal documents, every word has been thought deeply, repeated modifications, the customer may be sound asleep, the lawyer is still thinking, looking for a breakthrough point.

Fourth, the trial process
Lawyers appear in court the best to let the customer in person, this is in front of the customer to show the best opportunity for lawyers, really can't participate, should ask the customer to send a trusted person to appear in court, even if it is on the court without saying a word or listen to the customer side of the trial process, can be more objective to recognize the results of the case. Win where the win, lose where the loss, the problem from which part, the customer clearly understand. Of course, it is best to let the client understand is that winning the case is indeed the results of the lawyer's work, losing the case is the case situation, the lawyer for its maximum benefit or maximize the loss avoided. The lawyer can directly inform the client that your appearance in court is also a supervision of the work of our lawyers, and we are also willing to accept your supervision, as well as criticism and suggestions to us. Some lawyers are often reluctant to clients to the court, in fact, this is a lack of self-confidence, no bottom performance, but also will leave hidden problems.
Fifth, after the trial
After the trial, the lawyer's first job is to organize the “trial transcript”. Due to the trial process lawyers work more nervous, the trial process records are often scribbled, the layout is messy, after the trial to organize standardized, let the customer read, once again let the customer perception of the lawyer's labor, at the same time the “statement of proxy” “agency opinion” and other hand over to the customer, after the case is closed, the lawyer will be promptly handed over to the customer referee documents. If necessary, send to the customer “customer return visit record form”, in order to do the work is complete, good start and finish.
All legal services provided by lawyers, ultimately appear in tangible instruments, these instruments are both the results of the lawyer's labor, but also the lawyer's knowledge, skills, wisdom and other labor complexity. Every step of the progress of the case, lawyers should communicate with clients in a timely manner, the tangible results of the work presented to the client, the client at any time to perceive the lawyer's hard work and complexity of the work. But in real life, for a variety of considerations, lawyers often do not produce their own paperwork submitted to the client, to the client that the lawyer's fee is higher than the value of the lawyer's labor.
In short, the lawyer's labor through a certain form of performance. Work process and results are important, for lawyers to pay more attention to the process, especially the process of tangible, written, fixed, fully demonstrated, to avoid the risk of practice, so that customers feel the lawyer's labor.