ID-636-Clare Corado

Q: So a lot of people in this group talk about firing F clients and I’m interested in beginning to do that, but I have a flat fee practice so I wondering if you could explain the mechanics of how that would happen. For example we have a client who has a $500 flat fee case whose case should’ve been done in two weeks but due to the client’s non-cooperation we have been doing it for 14 months. I’m wondering how do you have that conversation?
A: You call them for a meeting and you say, _Look, when you hired us this was your problem. This was your goal and this is what we committed to do to help you get from where you were to where you wanted to be and here’s the signed engagement agreement. We’ve done everything that we’ve committed to do and we’re not prepared to keep doing more unless you to hire us to do something new or different, but that will require a new engagement agreement and that will require additional fees._ Now if you’re saying you don’t even want to offer them that option because you don’t like working with that person, you have the same exact conversation we had except the second part of it is, _So we’ve brought your case to a conclusion. Our representation of you is now concluded. We wish you the best._ Shake hands. See you later. You