Online reviews are becoming increasingly important for law firms. For any law firm that gains a significant portion of its business online, it cannot just ignore the importance of online reviews. Law firms that gain business online have to find a way to encourage positive reviews. There are tangible things a law firm can do to help ease the process of getting positive online reviews from happy clients. Unfortunately, sometimes some people post negative reviews online.
At the same time, negative online reviews are going to happen from time to time. The reality is that no lawyer or law firm can make every client happy as hard as they might try. There might just be circumstances where the client is not happy. There might be times when the client had unreasonable expectations that just could not be managed effectively.
In particular areas of the law, it might be more likely for clients to leave negative online reviews. Certain areas of law just lead to clients walking away feeling unsatisfied from time to time. It is very easy for a client or former client to leave a negative online review. The webpages and directories where clients can leave negative online reviews are virtually endless. Many webpages and directories allow online reviews because they drive traffic.
Client Confidentiality
Many lawyers, however, are tempted to respond substantively to the negative online reviews. The temptation is understandable where the review is unfair, false, or distorts the facts of what happened.
But having said that, lawyers and law firms have duties of confidentiality and privilege. Even when a client or former client is unfairly portraying a lawyer or a law firm, lawyers and law firms cannot breach confidentiality and privilege if responding in any substantive way.
The Pennsylvania Bar Association issued an interesting ethical opinion that talks about the dilemmas for lawyers in responding to negative online reviews. The reference in particular is that any response should be “proportional and restrained.” They even provide a model answer that lawyers might think about giving in response to a negative online review:
“A lawyer’s duty to keep client confidences has few exceptions and in an abundance of caution, I do not feel at liberty to respond in a point-by-point fashion in this forum. Suffice it to say that I do not believe that the post presents a fair and accurate picture of the events.”
Certainly, lawyers and law firms could come up with other very general responses that they could give to a negative online review. But, practically speaking, lawyers must be very careful if they opt to respond to a negative online review. If a law firm or lawyer is not sure they know where the line is, it is best to ask for advice from a supervisor.
Push for Positive Reviews
One can ask whether a general response like the one outlined in Pennsylvania is even worth posting when it is so general. Would an individual hire a law firm, or even be persuaded by such a general response? We can’t know for sure, and it should be at the discretion of law firm management what the best approach is. To negate the effect of negative reviews, you should encourage your staff to push for more positive reviews online.
It also goes without saying, but it makes sense to also contact upset former clients privately, in a forum that is not online, to discuss their concerns.
A lawyer could avoid a potential conflict with a former client by not responding online. However, it may also seem as if the law firm does not care. The best advice is to be very careful when responding to reviews, making sure not to cross any lines with former clients and keeping it professional.
If you have any thoughts, feel free to share them below.