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02 October 2008
Issue: 7339 / Categories: Features , Risk management , Profession
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Client phobia

Feeling client phobic? Simon Young has just the remedy

This job would be so much easier if it weren’t for the clients!
Well, possibly, but rather less well remunerated! What’s the matter this time?

They keep changing their minds. They start off by wanting one thing, and then change to ask for something else.
Have you ever thought that that might be your fault, not theirs? Remember that, under rule 2, the first element of the client care requirements is that you must identify what the client’s objectives are in relation to the work to be done. Sometimes, we can have a tendency to see a matter in our terms, not the client’s. We assume, from our day-to-day involvement, that every client in a particular type of work wants the same thing. It may well not be true. How often do you hear people say: “All I really wanted was an apology”, when we’ve been assuming it was the money they were after? Can you always say that you have sat down with the client, right at

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Gateley Legal—Jack Kelly

Gateley Legal—Jack Kelly

Gateley Legal expands Midlands residential development team

Gibson Dunn—Richard Surtees

Gibson Dunn—Richard Surtees

Gibson Dunn adds employee benefits and executive compensation practice in London with partner Richard Surtees

Laytons ETL—Alec Cameron

Laytons ETL—Alec Cameron

Laytons ETL appoints new partner and head of intellectual property disputes

NEWS
A series of recent decisions has clarified important principles across property law, from perpetuities to lease renewals and public rights over land
Employers cannot rely on wellbeing services alone to defend workplace stress claims after a High Court decision awarding almost £1m to an overworked employee
Andy Burnham's brand of 'Manchesterism' could offer fresh thinking on legal aid and access to justice if it reaches Westminster, according to Roger Smith, NLJ columnist and former director of JUSTICE
The constitutional fallout from a change of prime minister, rather than the politics, is under scrutiny as questions arise over the limits of executive authority in a leadership transition
The legal profession is undergoing a fundamental shift from selling services to creating technology-enabled products, according to Professor Luke Mason, Head of School of Law at Regent's University London
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