Some clients pay their bills when asked. You send them an invoice, and they make payment. Others treat invoices like junk mail. They toss your invoice in the circular file or delete it from their e-mail.
Asking for payment is challenging for some of us. However, it isn’t optional. You’ve got to get paid. It’s non-negotiable.
You’d like to hand this task off to someone else in the firm—someone like the office manager or administrator. That works with some clients, the least difficult clients, but it won’t work for the really challenging people.
You’re going to have to ask the difficult people yourself. That’s your job. The easy people have already paid.
Asking for money is easy—intellectually. You’ve just got to ask.
It’s tougher emotionally. It’s hard to get up the courage to push. You already expect some resistance. You know you’re going to hear about how things aren’t going as well as expected, how you’ve failed to return every call promptly, how you didn’t make the crazy point they wanted made at the hearing, and how you seem like you’re fighting more for the other side than for them.
Listen, you’re doing a good job. You’re putting up with a difficult client. You’re doing the best that can be done under the circumstances and, at the moment, you’re doing it without being paid.
You’ve got to step up to the plate and ask for the money. The sooner the better. It’s got to be done.
The key is knowing in your heart that you’re doing what you’ve been hired to do. It’s knowing that you’re adding value and that you’re providing a benefit for the client.
Don’t minimize your contribution in your own mind. Sometimes the work you’re doing seems easy. That’s because sometimes, it is easy—for you. It’s what you’ve been trained to do. It’s what you spent years learning in school. It’s easy now because you’ve learned how to do it. That doesn’t mean it isn’t valuable. It’s incredibly valuable, especially if you factor in what you spent to go to school.
You’re providing an important service and, for many of your clients, you’re providing peace of mind, security, comfort, and certainty. That’s worth paying for, and your client needs to write the check.
Screw up the courage, walk into the room, and ask for the money. You deserve it.
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Lee Rosen has practiced family law for more than twenty years. With three offices, 