Client service tips from Paul Alisauskas – Pace Law Firm: We were recently retained by a husband and wife who had suffered a motorcycle accident in the Collingwood area. As I did the telephone intake for this case, I had a front row seat for how it was handled. The circumstances illustrate one important client service principle – responsiveness.

Following the initial call, I prepared the usual case summary and forwarded it to our screening and intake people. I then called Toronto lawyer Michelle Arzaga to advise her of the basic facts.

As it turned out, calling Michelle was unnecessary; she’d already read my intake memo. I asked her to reach out to the client ASAP to confirm our interest in taking the case, which, I found out, she was just about to do anyway. She called the clients personally right after our conversation. Total time from the phone ringing in Collingwood, until a call to the client from a Toronto lawyer who would oversee the case? About 45 minutes.

It gets better: Michelle arranged to come to Collingwood the following morning to meet with the clients and complete the intake documentation with them. Michelle attended at their home because one of the clients had mobility problems.

That same day, Michelle also made retainer arrangements with another client. This client is one I mentioned in a previous blog posting – someone who could almost never get her calls returned from other lawyers, and who, after months, had not had an opportunity to speak to the lawyer handling her file. She ended up coming to our firm and receiving help.

Congratulations to Michelle and her team for a telling demonstration of ‘responsiveness.’