Getting fired by a client stinks. (Well, it usually stinks, but sometimes it brings a great sense of relief.)

I’m never fond of having a client go elsewhere, and I consider it a failure on our part even when it’s nice to see the client go.

My response used to be defensive. I felt like the client had made a mistake and we would have done a great job in the long run. I’d get angry, hurt, and upset, and I would mope around for days (or at least a few hours until the next crisis arose).

At some point, however, I figured out that I could use these unpleasant situations as learning opportunities. I realized that I could figure out ways to grow my practice from having been let go.

This reframing (my wife refers to it as my ability to rationalize anything) allows me to take a negative and turn it into a positive, and, in this instance, we have literally grown our practice from these situations.

Here’s what we’ve done:

(1) Client fires us. Client usually has a blowup of some sort and explains (yells) why the client is moving on. We usually try to address the issues (to no avail).

(2) We help the client transition to new counsel.

(3) That’s where we used to stop.

(4) Now, after the dust settles, it’s time to learn something.

(5) Have someone independent (we use our managing attorney) talk to the client and find out what went wrong. You don’t want the attorney who dealt with the client to have the conversation because it’s inevitable that the involved attorney will get defensive. You want a neutral listener to make the call. Record the call if possible and really probe the details and reasoning behind the decision to terminate the lawyer.

(6) Do a serious post-mortem analysis of the data collected. Dig deep. Don’t stop at “the client is crazy.” Really explore, from the client’s perspective, what happened, how it felt, and why the client reacted by firing the attorney. There is much to be learned here if you’ll seriously study what’s said.

Here’s the deal: the client who fired you isn’t alone. This client is just willing to step up and take action. For every client who fires you, there are many, many clients thinking about your firm in the same way. Those other unhappy clients simply aren’t willing or able to take the step of firing the attorney. That doesn’t mean they’re happy with whatever actions, behaviors, etc. caused the firing client to act.

The client who fired you was willing to act. That client will teach you something if you’re willing to listen. You’ve got to step away from your own perspective on what clients want and need and listen to the unhappy client so you’ll know what he or she really wanted and needed.

You might not be willing to act on the advice of the client who terminated you. But, at a minimum, you’ll broaden your perspective on what it means to serve clients, and you’ll better understand the thinking that goes into hiring you and keeping you on.