In other news, I've discovered how to make every client happy: email them. Whenever I get a sweet email from a client, it's because I've been responsive. Even when I don't have any news, I send emails to let them know I haven't forgotten about them. And it makes sense, because it drives me a little crazy too when people don't get back to me. I've gotten some really heartfelt feedback from clients, and they always mention the responsiveness. When I took Ethics in law school, they noted that the single biggest complaint that leads to attorney discipline is failure to respond to emails and phone calls.
The other part of making a client happy is speed. I'm a goal-oriented person, which means I like to finish things. (I live by to-do lists.) I usually power through assignments quickly, and this has backfired a little. I do many product release due diligence projects - reviewing new products to ensure we have all our rights in a row - and although clients are instructed to give legal 30 days to do it, there are times when their release date is in 5 days. And I've gotten a reputation from the person in my group that assigns them as someone who can turn them around quickly. This is great, except that I seem to be getting quite a lot of the assignments that need to be turned around quickly! I don't mind too much; crunchtime performance makes the clients that much happier, and there's nothing like a happy client. As every list-maker knows, the best part is crossing things off.
