Why Most People Don’t Like Lawyers
By Jim Hurley
Unfortunately, many people have had bad experiences with personal injury lawyers. Although there may be various reasons for these experiences, some valid and others unfounded, one of the main reasons could be the inability to have good customer service for their client=s particular legal needs whether it is for personal injury law, family law or criminal law.
Recently, a doctor noted that many of his peers are exceptional as doctors but fail to understand how to have good customer service for their patients. Patients often have to wait for more than 45 minutes to see the doctor. Generally, the doctor does not apologize to their patient for making them wait and often seems in a hurry to get to the next patient. This type of service tends to make the patient feel frustrated and upset.
The personal injury lawyer has spent years on education, both undergraduate and graduate schools, and has the knowledge to solve the client’s particular legal problem but often fails to have good customer service for the client while solving this problem. The personal injury lawyer will often not return phone calls to the client, fail to let the client know what is going on in their case, and assumes that the client understands what to do based on the lawyers advice. In short, the personal injury lawyer acts, thinks and writes like a lawyer but fails to understand that the client should also be considered a customer that requires good customer service.
A perfect example of this situation is when a personal injury lawyer tells his client to meet him at court for a hearing that involves a motor vehicle accident that caused her severe injuries. The personal injury lawyers office sends the client a letter telling her where and when to be at court. At that point, the personal injury lawyer thinks that is all she needs to do. Wrong! The client shows up at the wrong court or at the wrong time or day because the client in very unfamiliar with the courts and, at that point, both the personal injury lawyer and client are mad. A simple phone call from either the personal injury lawyer or her staff would have possibly solved this problem.
Another example of poor customer service happens when a personal injury lawyer or her staff does not update the client or return the client=s phone call. At times, a personal injury lawsuit can take years and, oftentimes, a client simply needs to know that she has not been forgotten during the pendency of the lawsuit. A good system is essential for updating the client and returning client=s phone calls. Clients do not like repeated phone calls to their personal injury lawyers without a return phone call which leads to very unhappy clients.
In conclusion, personal injury lawyers need to do the proper legal work and also provide good customer service. The legal profession is a service business and you want the client to get a good legal result as well as be happy with the customer service. In personal injury law, the ability to have good customer service is crucial since referrals are an integral part in that type of practice. Moreover, when people are hurt or injured in car crashes or motor vehicle accidents, the need for quality customer service is paramount to help the client during this difficult time.
The Norfolk based personal injury law firm, Cooper Hurley, handles automobile, truck, and motorcycle injuries. John Cooper and Jim Hurley have over 40 years of combined experience in handling auto injury accident claims. Attorney John Cooper has been named to Virginia “Super Lawyers” since 2010. Cooper Hurley represents people hurt in accidents in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News and throughout VA, and always put the best interests of the our clients first.. The firm is recognized by other lawyers as “AV” by Martindale-Hubbell, a national attorney rating service, for our top level of legal skill and highest ethical standards. If you need help or advice about a serious injury, please call us ( 757) 455 -0077 or contact through this website.
