[quote=davelj] . . . Client control cuts both ways. Sometimes it’s in your client’s best interests to back away from a transaction. Sometimes the client’s being idiotic and can’t pull the trigger on a deal that’s clearly beneficial. The larger the gap in sophistication between the client and its counsel, the bigger the problems with “control.”[/quote](emphasis added)
You nailed the dynamic, davelj, in lawyer/client relationships. An experienced lawyer is typically far more sophisticated that his/her client. (Can’t say the same for RE agents because the educational bar is very low to enter the field so many in this field ARE truly ignorant.)
FREQUENTLY, a client retains a lawyer because he has an insurmountable problem. The clients expects the lawyer to pick up all the pieces and “clean up” his/her mess or “make him whole again.” Meanwhile, client’s daily behavior that got him/her into the mess to begin with DOES NOT CHANGE, so their mess gets worse, ALL THE WHILE his/her lawyer is attempting to “FIX” it.
I often visit an office where the sole practitioner handles bankruptcies. He gets several calls daily from persons who “think they” want to file a Chapter 7 liquidation. THE FIRST THINGS HE ASKS A POTENTIAL CLIENT ON THE PHONE IS, “When is the last time your borrowed $$? When is the last time you used a credit card? Did you take `cash-out’ of that refinancing? Have you borrowed ANY MONEY or USED ANY CREDIT in the last 12 months??”
I frequently hear people crying and yelling at him on the other side of the phone when he tells them about the *new* “one-year look-back” period. His “typical caller” actually THOUGHT they could do a cash-out refi in 2009, buy a boat and take vacations with the proceeds and let all their other creditors rot in h@ll, all while using their credit cards up until yesterday and then just file a Chapter 7 and have it all instantly discharged. Most also believe they can keep all their “toys” after a Chap. 7 (RV, boat, trailers, motorcycle, ATV’s, jet skis, multiple vehs, etc). It’s incredulous!
He has to tell most of them they don’t qualify for a Chap. 7 (b/c it would be dismissed) but can file a Chap. 13 and explains what that is. Most are not interested in this so just hang up.
