Lawyers are notorious for not returning phone calls timely. There are a lot of excuses for this shameful stereotype but the reality is that it is true. I am constantly working on this with my associates and staff. I believe we are better than when I first started practicing. I have called attorneys and I have not received a return call for 2 weeks. I would expect a staff member to call and say, “Hey uh Mr. ? does not really want to talk to you so I am calling to let you know that you are not important enough in his life to call you back timely. Good Luck, Thanks for calling. Ms. or Mr. ? Assistant to the Attorney to important to call you back.”Truthfully, I know that there are some clients that I don’t call back because I need to fire them.  I don’t want to deal with them because I  am a coward.A distinction that I have used to train my staff is the difference between communicating and informing. Communication requires the tone, inflection and melody of a human being’s voice. Informing someone is an act of transferring data from one place to another using various methods such as fax, email and voice mail. Clients will not get irritated if you make the distinction clear and properly identify what the situation requires. Remember that the client’s expectation must be set around how the business will be communicating and informing the client.   Here are some tips:1. Information such as confirming a time, date etc. does not need a voice call.2. Information such as a request for a fax or copy of something does not need a voice call.3. Requests for information should be done via email and fax if possible so that you have a record.  3. NEVER EVER EVER GIVE BAD NEWS TO SOMEONE IN AN EMAIL IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE WORKING WITH THIS PERSON IN THE FUTURE.  CALL THEM ON THE PHONE. 4. IF YOU ARE TERMINATING THE CLIENT BE CLEAR SEND A LETTER NOT AN EMAIL. 5.  Call someone on the phone if an email or fax is not clear to you and ask them to explain it to you by asking pointed questions about the document.  AH