Video Killed the Radio Star
Recently, the Lawyerist had a short but interesting article on lawyers using video chat to communicate with clients (“Is Video Conferencing Part of Your Practice”). Now, just mentioning “video chat” and “clients” in the same sentence will make many lawyers crumple their noses into a risk-averse mess. “It is so impersonal,” they say (forgetting they use the telephone) or “I (or my clients) don’t really know how to use it,” or “I’m a lawyer, not an Internet-obsessed teenager.” These and similar arguments are probably what caused the Lawyerist to call this the more-sophisticated “video conferencing” rather than “video chat.”
On some level all of these arguments have merit. However, the reality is that, as the 15-35 set becomes the core of our consuming public, video chat among everyone – personal or professional – will be commonplace. And lawyers are not immune. Even today, I would much rather pull up Skype to meet with my lawyer on a face-to-face issue rather than driving all the way over to her office, parking, etc. (or paying her by the hour to do the same). Even if we need to review a document together, nothing prevents us from looking at different digital copies at the same time.
Not to hurt anyone’s feelings, but I don’t really need to see my attorneys’ faces on a regular basis (except the ones I socialize with). I know what they look like and what their offices look like. We can handle every important matter over the phone, and never am I put off that I haven’t seen their corporeal being for months, if not years. To the contrary, it appeals to my tightwad nature. If I’m not seeing my lawyers, they are probably not charging me.
All of that being said, I appreciate it when one of my attorneys reaches out and says, “We haven’t seen each other for awhile. Let’s grab lunch.” Or, “Mind if I stop by for 15 minutes to shoot the breeze?” While I don’t *need* them to do this, I appreciate that they are reaching out and inherently telling me that I am important to them. And, maybe part of that appreciation stems from the fact that I know they don’t have the time to do this for all their clients, lest they forget to practice law.
So let’s accept the following:
- Most clients are similar to me and like lawyers to unexpectedly reach out and throw them some non-billable love now and then.
- You can’t be reaching out to all of your clients all of the time. And, if you have a regional, national or international practice, forget about it.
- Even for important matters, digital communication is more efficient than in-person meetings.
If you accept each or even most of these assumptions, then what is the next-best-thing to stopping by? If it were letters, we wouldn’t have the phone. If it were the phone, we wouldn’t have the Internet or video chat. The fact is, video is exponentially growing in popularity because it is the next best thing to being there. With very little investment, both parties get real time, face-to-face communication. No one needs to commute, clean their office, boil a pot of coffee, whatever. You simply turn from your email, phone call or meeting, and with a few clicks your client (or your lawyer) is sitting there. When you are done, no need to walk anyone to the door or engage in idle chitchat while waiting for the elevator. A simple “thanks for the time” and click of the mouse will do. Best of all, the enterprising lawyer will be able to do many more video visits than they could ever do in person – especially if their client is thousands of miles away.
While video chat may not be a necessity for your practice today, it will be tomorrow. And the more that you can utilize it today — especially with tech-savvy clients – the better off you will be both in time and quality of client contact.
