The 14-day rule for client contact
Clients rarely leave because a case is slow. They leave because no one told them what was happening.
Most calls that start with “what is going on with my case” are not really questions about the case. They are questions about whether anyone is paying attention. A simple contact cadence answers that before the client has to ask.
The rule
Every active client hears from the firm at least once every 14 days, whether or not anything has changed. The update is scheduled, it is logged, and it follows the same structure every time.
What a good update covers
- Where the case is right now, in plain language.
- How treatment is going and what appointments are coming up.
- What happens next and roughly when.
- Anything the firm needs from the client.
- When they will hear from you again.
A short update on schedule builds more trust than a long one that arrives late
Making it stick
A cadence only works if it does not depend on memory. Build a recurring task for each active case, assign it to a named person, and track days since last contact on a dashboard. Cases that cross 14 days should be visible to everyone, not discovered during a complaint.
The payoff is quieter phones, better treatment follow-through, and clients who stay with the firm through the slow parts of a case.
See where your firm stands
Eight quick questions place your firm on the path from practice to enterprise and name the moves that would make the biggest difference.
Take the firm checkKeep reading
Time in phase: the simplest number your firm is not tracking
Every case moves through the same phases. How long it sits in each one tells you more about your firm than almost any other report.
Read the article →Five signs your Filevine setup has drifted
Case management systems rarely break. They drift, one workaround at a time, until the system no longer matches how the firm works.
Read the article →