Clients often will seek lawyer approval for illegal or self-defeating actions. Only once when I threatened withdrawal did the client fail to follow my advice. Wimpy lawyering leads to wasted hearings and trials. It also leads to children damaged by extended parental disputes and to unpaid lawyers. Conferences are Powerful Tools.
Lawyers often have trouble because of unreasonable clients.
Those clients try to prevent reasonable action because of their pain and need for control or revenge. Phone or chambers conferences, set by counsel's agreement, are powerful tools to save lawyer time and client money. The lawyers can get a quick resolution of an issue without expensive motion papers and the need to wait for a motion date. Conferences are especially useful when there is dispute over the wording for a settlement made on the record. Stephen C. Aldrich is a district judge in Hennepin County, sitting regularly as judge of Family Court.