We are continuing to talk about the last area of the five areas that make up every business in the world, this fifth area is “collecting.” As you will remember, the other four areas that make up every business in the world are: “Clients” or “customers”; “Administration”; “Getting the work done”; and “Billing.”

Last week we spoke about monthly reminder letters that can be put with your bills in order to help you collect accounts receivable. We also discussed the pointedness of these letters depending on the lateness of payment on your client’s bill. This week we will touch on the option of a lawsuit in order to collect your fees.

I must admit that I go back and forth with regard to whether or not clients should actually be sued for fees. Most of the time I must admit that I am fairly optimistic with regard to the fact that if it is a fair bill for fair services, that a lawsuit will eventually get you a judgment that eventually you might get paid. On the other hand, if you have had a rocky relationship with your client and you cannot justify your bill with regard to it being “reasonable,” then you are obviously much better off simply writing the matter off and getting on to the next matter that you will be handling. Obviously, there is a huge grey area between those two concepts.

It is important for you to understand that what you think may be a fee dispute may turn into something more. The Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel is the prosecutorial arm of the Supreme Court, and it is their job to pursue people who they believe may not be complying with the rules. I believe it is a judgment call on everybody’s part as to how far they want to go to pursue a client by suit to collect their bill. It is not an easy call and the fallout from bringing suit by way of a fee dispute claim, a bar complaint or worst of all, a claim for malpractice is very disruptive to your practice, and will take time away from the other work you are trying to do to satisfy your ongoing clients.

I must admit, there are times I simply feel that if a client makes a complaint, the absolute easiest way is to simply comply with the client’s wishes. This does not necessarily make you feel very good because you have worked very hard to try to get the client a good result and they do not seem very appreciative of it when it comes to paying your bill. When you consider the alternatives, this may be the path of least resistance. On the other hand, there are times that I must admit that I “dig in my heels” and believe that we have provided a good service for a client at a fair price and the bill should be paid. I guess to sum up what I am really saying to you, is that the proverbial phraseology about whether or not you should actually pursue a client by a lawsuit can be defined by the phrase “it all depends.”

I hope this article gives you some perspectives with regard to trying to decide whether or not a system you are using in your office helps with regard to your collections of your accounts receivable, or whether or not it ultimately causes more trouble than benefit. The decision with regard to what system you use is obviously very personal, and it can only be decided by each individual and each law firm. I have seen some lawyers be very aggressive with regard to pursuing lawsuits, and I have seen other lawyers who have totally shied away from any suits to collect their fees and simply get on down the pike. As with most things in the practice of law, it’s your call!

The advice I would give would be at a bare minimum, to have some type of a system where you increase the pointedness of trying to collect your bill and then you can ultimately make the decision as to whether or not you want to actually file a claim to collect it.

Next week we are going to talk about what to do if you actually make the decision to sue a client for a fee. I think you will find some of my comments quite helpful!

Talk to you next week!

Jim Wirken is a civil trial attorney and the Chairman of the Board of The Wirken Law Group in Kansas City.