I was involved in a conversation with a small group of attorneys and the discussion turned to Gmail, the free email service provided by Google. We spent a minute talking about the terms of service and the anxiety created by the possible loss of attorney-client privilege. I understand why that worries some attorneys.

Then we swerved off into the twilight zone. One attorney piped up about the chat feature in Gmail. She advised the group to be careful to turn it off since leaving it on would allow clients to send instant messages. She didn’t like the idea of clients being able to grab her when she wasn’t expecting it. She wants to run her client contact through the phone and email.

I know clients are annoying and all, but we’ve got to remember that without clients we don’t have a practice. Without clients we don’t get to do this work we’ve chosen. Without clients we don’t eat.

We’ve got to do things the way clients want us to do things – not the way we want to do things. That’s how we get more clients. That’s how we have happy clients.

I’m not suggesting that you do everything a client wants. I don’t think routine calls, at home at 1 AM are a good idea just because a client wants to chat. However, it’s important to remember that we work for them, they don’t work for us.

I remember when banks used to close at 2 PM. Now they’re open on weekends and they have bankers standing out in front of the grocery store branch giving away free coffee and key chains. The world has changed for bankers.

It’s changed for lawyers as well, especially in family law and especially now.

If they want to use instant messenger – let them. Make them happy, treat them with respect, do it the way the way they want to do it.