ABA Journal - November 2010

Warning Signs
Unless you have a very sheltered career, you’re going to end up dealing with a prospective client who is, as New Britain, Conn., lawyer Adrian Baron puts it, “a few pages short of a legal brief.” Baron, who writes most days at the Nutmeg Lawyer blog, recently ruminated about
the red flags that help him recognize when he might be getting into a bad attorney-client relationship—or some-
thing worse. He says he listens for key phrases like “I don’t want any money; it’s the principle of the thing” or
“I can do this myself, but I don’t have the time” or “She must have paid off the judge.” If he hears “danger words”
like conspiracy or terrorism he may run the other way. He cringes if presented with laminated paperwork.

I think the key is not so much about having a list of red flags. It is about listening to our own gut reactions and trusting ourselves. The lists justify the emotional and intuitive messages and are the evidence for doing what we know we ought to do. —J. Kim Wright

Become familiar with the diagnosis and symptoms of “borderline personality disorder” and with behavior known as “gaslighting,” often practiced by people with BPD. —David

Crazy eyes. If the client has crazy eyes, I don’t retain them. —David Gotzh

There are little red flags
and big red flags. Little red flags
I’ve unwisely ignored were:
Clients who have a sense of always
being wronged, and a tendency
to take business disputes personally;

clients who have been “screwed over” by previous attorneys;

clients who tell a long-winded
“victim” story and dwell on irrelevant
facts when describing the dispute
to you; and clients whose faith
in their position is not supportable
by the law or the facts.

Do yourself a favor
and trust your gut. A
venerable old Texas
lawyer once told us,
“The first time you hear
the story is the best it;s
ever going to be.”