With in-person meetings on hold, it may be tempting to use text messaging as a quick and easy way to communicate with your clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Better be careful. The informality of texting can be a risk management minefield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cText messages which are usually informal, easily taken out of context, and written in \u2018text speak,\u2019 could come back to haunt you,\u201d writes attorney Amy Terwilleger in this article for Attorney at Work.<\/a> \u201cOn the flip side, if it is the only place you are documenting advice to your client, it may not be in your files when you need it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another danger: text senders expect a speedy reply \u2013 no more than 90 seconds, according to some studies \u2013 which is hardly enough time to formulate a reasoned, cogent response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf a client texts you seeking substantive advice, respond that you will follow up via email, memo or letter,\u201d writes Terwilleger<\/a>, who represents lawyers in malpractice cases. \u201cIn your response, make sure to include a summary of the text from the client. Follow up your written advice with a phone call if necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Risk management is always top of mind when you have professional liability insurance coverage through Alta Pro Insurance<\/a>. Each policy comes with your very own on-call practice management consultant, Ask the Risk Pro. Want in? Here\u2019s how to start.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are four other potential risk management traps \u2013 and tips for avoiding them, courtesy of Terwilleger and Attorney at Work<\/a> (all quotes are from her article<\/a>):<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you practice in Wisconsin, Texas, Minnesota, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana or Michigan, you can stay a step ahead of the competition by being a member of <\/strong><\/em>Alta Pro Lawyers RPG<\/a>. You\u2019ll get access to free webinars, the Pro Practice Playbook, Reminger ProLink, Ask the Risk Pro and more. <\/em>Here\u2019s how to join.<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Can you give good legal advice in 90 seconds or less?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":3270,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[340,337,251,243,341],"tags":[284,285,343,345,283],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/altaprorpg.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3269"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/altaprorpg.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/altaprorpg.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altaprorpg.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altaprorpg.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/altaprorpg.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altaprorpg.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/altaprorpg.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altaprorpg.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altaprorpg.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Deadlines<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Client Relations<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Distractions<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Professionalism<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n