What Constitutes Diligent Legal Services?
Diligent legal services are defined as a lawyer’s "careful and persistent effort to accomplish what one is obligated to do." Simply put, it is the legal services that you can expect from your lawyer on a daily basis for the duration of your representation.
To clarify the term "diligence," let’s turn to comment [3] of the American Bar Association Model Rules of Professional Conduct (ABA Model Rules). There, "diligence" refers to the lawyer’s "diligent and prompt consideration of your matter" (see ABA Formal Opinion 486 for more on this). It is the Diligence Duty of the ABA Model Rules that, unfortunately, many lawyers fall short of delivering satisfactorily. That is, many lawyers will allow their clients to call them with questions and concerns much quicker than they will provide answers and action plans.
A lawyer’s diligent care also requires keeping a travel schedule that provides a consistent and reliable way to reach you. It should include when the lawyer is in their office , when they are free to receive calls, when they are not available, and when they will be on trial or handling other matters that require their full attention. By maintaining a schedule, the lawyer’s office can provide clear answers to any questions the client may have. Without such a schedule, clients can easily grow anxious and suspect that no progress is being made.
Of course, diligent legal representation also includes careful attention to deadlines, record-keeping, document management, and billing. Speaking of billing, for each service provided by the lawyer, the billing statement should reflect the lawyer’s time spent and details regarding work performed. Keeping a thorough and accurate record of work done for clients is more than just a reflection of a lawyer’s diligent efforts, but also helpful should the billing lawyer ever be called to testify.
Diligence in Legal Practice
Diligence is a fundamental quality for a successful lawyer and law firm. The best lawyers work hard to provide the best possible outcomes for their clients. An attorney must adhere to a strict code of professional conduct. Failure to be diligent could have negative effects for the attorney as well as the client. When the attorney does not perform the job competently, the client could lose money and even their legal rights.
The definition of diligence as "having or showing care and conscientiousness in one’s work or duties." Being diligent means working hard with high levels of carefulness. In a legal context, diligence refers to the effort put into your legal work, including researching, drafting, and preparing legal documents and forms, and providing quality advice and legal representation for each and every client.
Advantages of Engaging Diligent Legal Service Providers
Clients can expect a number of benefits when they engage the services of diligent legal professionals. To begin with, diligent attorneys are more likely to engage in effective conflict management, which may include avoiding unnecessary litigation by identifying and addressing potential sources of conflict before they escalate.
In addition, diligent legal services can help clients achieve better outcomes by ensuring that legal documents are filed in a timely manner and that important meetings and deadlines are met. Attorneys who are diligent concerning their duties can help support a client’s case by ensuring that relevant evidence is not overlooked as the case proceeds.
It’s also essential to remember that diligent legal professionals have obligations to the court and opposing counsel as well as the client. This means that diligent attorneys are less likely to needlessly delay a case or harm the other parties’ ability to proceed in the case.
Attorneys who are diligent in providing legal services may also reduce costs to their client. For example, disputes that were avoided through diligence can help keep expenses down.
Finally, clients may feel greater trust in attorneys who take their legal duties seriously.
How to Recognize Diligent Legal Services
There are several indicators of good diligent legal services. First and foremost is a proven track record. Ask the provider for case studies or examples of how they have handled cases similar in nature to yours and what the outcome was. Did you get a fair report of the result? This is particularly important if the result was less than you hoped for. The last thing you want is an attorney or firm that sugar coats the report instead of providing full disclosure. You must also consider the history of the provider in offering legal services for your industry in particular, and whether or not they have experience on your side of the desk. Someone who has worked for both sides may be able to offer you a bit more insight.
Another visible indicator of diligent legal services is online presence and professional credentials. Review the results of their online presence using several criteria. Look for membership in state and federal bar associations. Look for reviews and comments from happy clients, as well as those who are less than satisfied. Take advantage of online reviews such as YELP and Martindale.com. Check to see how well the attorney or law firm responds in terms of answering inquiries or addressing complaints or issues. A provider that is diligent will respond to you within a reasonable amount of time even if it is just to let you know that your inquiry has been received.
Case Examples: Result-Oriented Diligent Legal Services
The following case studies exemplify how employing the right legal services diligently can turn the tide in favor of the client.
Case Study 1: Simplified Visas for the International Artist
An internationally acclaimed violinist received an offer to perform for a prestigious music festival in the European Union. The artist only had a month to secure a visa to perform in Europe; otherwise, the contract would be void. He turned to our law firm to evaluate his needs and identify the best visa option for him in order to meet the deadline. We had experience with similar cases and advised the artist that an unusual visa option was available that allows artists in certain fields to obtain work authorization to perform in the European Union while avoiding work permits and time consuming processing procedures. We prepared the artist’s application with all his performance credentials and supporting documentation and we achieved approval for the artist’s visa within one short week. He obtained all necessary documentation and was able to attend the festival on time.
Case Study 2: Successful Green Card Application
Employee hired and working in the United States to perform research and teaching duties wants to apply for a Green Card . The employee’s employer was interested in sponsoring the employee for a Green Card based on the employee’s extraordinary ability in the area of research and teaching in the employee’s specific field. The employee discussed the case with a law firm Sr. Attorney and a Green Card petition was prepared under the "Extraordinary Ability" category for Green Card by but first by filing a Petition for Classification Under the Extraordinary Ability category (under EB-1 category). We gathered all necessary documentation and evidence from the employee and submitted an application with all required supporting documentation to the U.S. Government for approval. Our attorneys successfully obtained a favorable decision on the petition from the United States government in record time. The client and the employer were surprised that the application was approved so quickly and were happy to learn that all the extra work they put, including compiling detailed letters widely known experts and documenting the employee’s accomplishments was worth it. After the Petition was approved, the employee filed for Adjustment of Status. The employee was subsequently awarded U.S. Permanent Resident status based on her prior petition.
The Challenge of Offering Diligent Legal Services
Common challenges in providing diligent legal services include the pressure of meeting strict deadlines or timelines inherent to a case, the nature and complexity of a case, the scope of a case, the substantive and procedural legal standards or requirements of a case, the expectation that you anticipate all relevant issues or problems inherent to a case and incorporate them into your overall consideration of a case, your familiarity with the facts or background of a case, and difficulties in objectively or accurately predicting what the outcome of a case might be.
Upcoming Trends in Diligent Legal Services
Future trends in the provision of diligent legal services will likely continue in the direction they have been heading over the past few years. This means that the provision of diligent legal services will likely evolve due to technological advancements and changing client expectations.
In terms of technological advancements, there are some key developments that may impact the provision of diligent legal services. First, and foremost, is the increased development and availability of artificial intelligence tools. These tools crunch data to quickly answer issues such as: How do you get from here to there? What steps are needed to do x? What steps are needed to do y? This can be particularly effective in constructing a regulatory compliance program where you need to know what you need to do, what needs to be done and the timeline to heal.
Even technological advances in the use of spreadsheets will likely help to streamline the entire process of diligent legal services. No one looks forward to using spreadsheets to track the resolution of issues raised during diligence but updated programs can help the process and create much less gaps in information.
A third technological advance we are seeing is the development of online platforms for crowd-sourcing legal diligence. This is something we at Ward and Smith have just made accessible to our clients . We store and track all issues through RegSCAN, an online platform where issues can be detected, monitored, automated, and accessed by those involved in the deal.
Another avenue for the potential evolution of diligent legal services is simply in the way clients are going to demand to receive these services. For example, in some ways we are certainly seeing a shift in how clients want to get access to legal diligence and compliance advice. Clients want more work to be done online rather than face-to-face. So, in response, what does that look like? That means finding ways to provide advice, deliver reports via a digital platform, and maybe require less time in person.
The other big shift we have seen in the last few years is learning how to represent clients remotely. Putting together a cross-border deal raises significant challenges on providing diligent legal services. But, some aspects of the deal present unique opportunities for spotty assistance such as a data room to keep the entire team up to date and to facilitate remote access and speedy searches for specific documents.
One area to keep an eye on is the impact of the pandemic on the provision of legal services and in particular, how the development, testing, and analysis have been conducted. We do not have answers about this yet but there is certainly a possibility that the process of identifying, analyzing, and reporting issues may evolve as part of an online process, including increasing use of data rooms.