Ethics for New Lawyers 

The Importance of Client Communications – Tips for Young Attorneys   

Inadequate client communication is typically one of the top complaints to the State Bar every year. This is unfortunate because keeping clients informed of developments in the representation is one aspect of the practice of law we can actually control.  

We cannot control an opposing party, the court’s rulings, or even a client’s conduct, but we do control the information we impart to the client. Not only is it good business to routinely communicate with your client, but it is also an ethical duty. 

Rule 1.4 of the California Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) states: 

(a) A lawyer shall: (1) promptly inform the client of any decision or circumstance with respect to which disclosure or the client’s informed consent is required by these rules or the State Bar Act; (2) reasonably consult with the client about the means by which to accomplish the client’s objectives in the representation; (3) keep the client reasonably informed about significant developments relating to the representation, including promptly complying with reasonable requests for information and copies of significant documents when necessary to keep the client so informed; and (4) advise the client about any relevant limitation on the lawyer’s conduct when the lawyer knows that the client expects assistance not permitted by the Rules of Professional Conduct or other law. 

Notice that communicating with clients is mandatory: “shall … promptly inform the client …”; “shall … reasonably consult with the client …”; “shall … keep the client reasonably informed about significant developments …”; and “shall … advise the client” about client expectations that might not be permitted by the Rules of Professional Conduct.  

Here are a few practical suggestions to accommodate the duty to communicate: 

Tip 1: A systematic procedure for satisfying this rule is needed. In my office, every case event — including any court actions, court filings, communications with opposing counsel and the client, outside events that may be relevant, and anything else important to the case — is documented in a single file we call “case annotations.” Many companies keep such a log, which are often called “chronologies” or “chrons.” 

Our annotations serve multiple purposes: 1. They provide a history for use in the future when you don’t remember what happened. 2. They allow other attorneys in the office to be able to access what is happening in the case to provide information if the main attorney is not available. 3. Paralegals may give basic case information to a client without giving legal advice. 4. Most importantly, in this age of electronic communications, the annotations allow for a quick cut and paste into an email to the client.  

Before my main paralegal retired after 25 years, I would dictate the “annotations,” which she then transcribed and put in the file. Besides creating the annotation, it also served the purpose of keeping my paralegal up to date on everything that happened in court or in communication with opposing counsel or a client. If I forgot to “annotate” on a court appearance, she knew about the oversight and would poke me to get it done. 

Tip 2: Speaking of emails to clients, an important part of confidential communications with a client is to make sure the client’s email is secure. The annotations to Rule 1.6 of the Rules of Professional Conduct cite Business and Professions Code section 6068(e)(1), which states in part, that a lawyer owes a duty to “maintain inviolate the confidence, and at every peril to himself or herself to preserve the secrets, of his or her client.”  

When emails became a prevalent form of client communication, a colleague and I on the Legal Ethics Committee teamed up to draft the following retainer agreement provision that is included in all my retainers: 

Confidentiality of Communications: The attorney-client relationship is a confidential one and all communications between attorney and client are privileged. Only you can waive the attorney-client privilege. You can waive the privilege unintentionally by your actions including, but not limited to: 

1. Sending an email from your work using either your work or personal email address — all email communications should be off your job site; 

2. Copying others on the email — do not cc or blind copy any other people or entities on any email communications with an attorney; 

3. Forwarding any email communications between attorney and client to others — do not keep our email communications as a “tail” when communicating with others. If in doubt about a communication please call, rather than email, the attorney. 

I advise my clients to set up a separate email account for our communications, which are all marked “CONFIDENTIAL, ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGE.” 

Tip 3: This is really a marketing tip and is about the only marketing I ever did — other than to have a website. Whenever we started a new case, we would ascertain the client’s birth date and put it in the calendar.  

We would then send a birthday wish, which was often met with great gratitude. Speaking of gratitude, every year instead of holiday cards, we would send out single page calendars with our names and phone number on them. That seemed to be very appreciated. 

These are just a few ideas to keep you on the right track and help with fulfilling the duty to communicate.