Clientcopia : Coping with stupid clients is funny in a tragic sort of way.
Law is a service business. So to all the law students reading this blog, I say, Take Notes! Because you too will someday have a Client from Hell.
A Personal Blog
by Michael Froomkin
Laurie Silvers & Mitchell Rubenstein Distinguished Professor of Law
University of Miami School of Law
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“Client from hell” is a redundancy…
Actually, I have always liked my clients so far. But you hear stories…
I’ve HAD stories.
A long, long time ago, in a legal aid office far, far away, I was forced by my superiors to take an unemployment insurance appeal: the client had been denied UI based on a claim that said client had been fired for making a racial slur at the boss.
The client swore, up and down, that it never happened, that the racial slur in question was made by someone else completely. So we prepared for the ALJ hearing…
Minutes before the hearing, the client discloses that (s)he did, in fact, make a racial slur about the boss… but a DIFFERENT one from the one that was the basis for the firing, and (s)he was absolutely sure nobody had caught the initial slur. “Ok, fine,” I’m like, “We’ll just defend on the basis of the actual reason for the firing and the slur you actually made was irrelevant.”
AT the hearing, however, the client drops another little bombshell: another boss CONFRONTED the client about the racial slur that (s)he DIDN’T make — the one that led to the firing.
Unfortunately, the client thought the confrontation was about the slur (s)he DID make, so CONFESSED AND BEGGED FOR MERCY! (Which was not given, hence the firing.)
Needless to say, after my client got around to letting me know about this BY WAY OF CROSS-EXAMINATION AT THE DAMNED HEARING, the case was lost…