Available 24/7 or on the clock 9-5? While it may come as no surprise that Dan Hull (who authors What About Clients) has a different perspective than Allison Shields (writing Lawyer Meltdown and the Legal Ease blog), most of us can find merit in each point of view and find ourselves torn. Think of the last half dozen times you mentioned your availability to clients: was it to provide your cell number and mention “any time” or was it “e-mail or voice-mail me, and I’ll get back to you tomorrow.”

#1 Have you found a nice balance of these? Comment and share if you have a tip for how you found the right blend of availability and down time.

As of late, I’ve put some effort into not only being available, but being available by a variety of methods — both very common (office phone, e-mail and cellular) and somewhat less common (jaxtr: internet link which connects caller’s cell phone directly to my voicemail and emails me the voicemail; meebo: instant messaging (IM/chat client) aggregator which not only consolidates my various IM/chat/ICQ identities, but also indicates my online availability and allows either interactive chat or quick method to leave me a brief message; and gmail-google talk which integrates a blend of online availability indication, chat, e-mail and voice-mail to e-mail functions.

So #2 While I’ve put all of these options out there for receiving client communications, my clients (and this is not a complaint) end up — guess — yes, calling my office during office hours, e-mailing when it’s a bit late, and dialing my cell only on rare occasions. Do they not believe me; is there a reluctance to sample the newer technology; has anyone experienced their clients adopting additional communication methods? What works for you (I notice HomeOfficeLawyer Grant Griffiths shows his online availability via Skype on his sidebar), or should I stop worrying on the theory that contacts from clients (regardless the medium) are contacts from clients … and that’s a good thing.

Drop me a quick comment.