Want to Become a Better Lawyer? – Part Four

Make Sure Your Hard Work Benefits Your Clients Long-Term

In this last installment of our 4-part blog on being a better lawyer for your clients, we want to recap the main points in the hope that you’ll give this a try. As stated in Part One, many of these tips take us outside our normal boundaries as lawyers, but these are steps we feel have to be taken to truly make a difference in our clients’ lives. The end goal is to further the financial literacy, long-term stability and security of our clients. Often that means breaking the cycle of accruing debt, and spending foolishly and frivolously. Whether it’s a 30-minute (or less) conversation with your client, or a series of short conversations throughout the duration of his or her case, you can help pave a better path.

Why, you ask? By leaving clients with more financial knowledge, you are helping to give them the chance to help themselves and become more secure and successful in the years to come. As discussed at last week’s Injury Board Summit, we as lawyers can have a huge impact on the lives of our clients, and, the more we can do to help, the better.

With that said, to recap, the 12 tips we have to offer on becoming a better lawyer with respect to providing your clients long-term stability are:

1. Have an open door policy.
2. Protect them from themselves.
3. Try to understand their plan for their money.
4. Make sure to arm your clients with basic financial literacy.
5. Make sure they understand the benefits of paying down debt.
6. Make sure the money is going to last as long as it needs to.
7. Make sure your clients appreciate the realities of buying that “big house”.
8. Make sure you are aware that structured settlements can be undone.
9. Make sure your clients understand that they must live within their means.
10. Make sure they understand the need to get good advice from good advisors.
11. Make sure your clients have a will.
12. Make sure they have property and casualty insurance to protect their new assets.

We hope that these tips serve as a useful resource as you strive to be the best possible lawyer for your clients, and we wish you the best of luck.

Henry "Hank" Didier is co-founder of Vantage Capital Consultants, a purchaser of structured settlements and annuities.