As some of my readers may know, my office was the victim of the extreme flooding that has happened in the northwest suburbs over the past few weeks. Our office itself was unharmed (we're on the 4th floor!), but the basement of the building we are located in was flooded and is without power for at least the next week.
What to do? Well, we went into emergency action mode. We got everything up and running. Faxes are forwarded to Mr. Reda's house. Our computer server was hosted remotely so we can all access the office from home. We all communicate via email and text. Last, but probably most important, our phones were forwarded to the home of our paralegal. She has been dutifully answering the phones without the benefit of our voicemail system.
She remarked that she took one call over the weekend from a caller looking for an attorney. She explained to them that the office was closed - after all, it was the weekend. The caller, irritated, said "I thought attorneys were 24/7". How far we have come from the days when attorneys got off work at noon on a Friday or took a week to respond to a letter.
These days, everything is immediate. Fax, email, phone. Its all fast. And it takes away from an attorney's real ability to help a client... by THINKING. A monkey can whip up a form. Heck, Legalzoom can give you a form. Is it the form you need? Maybe. Maybe not.
As for attorneys, we have lives outside of work. Yes, we strive to make our client's problems our own and to help our clients. We respond to calls quickly (usually within one business day). But no, we are not 24/7. For that, go to Wal-Mart.
