TLIE Top Tip: My Word is My Bond
TLIE Top TipsBeing a Texan implies a certain ethos: rugged, sturdy, independent, self-sufficient. It harkens to an ideal of handshake agreements where all that was needed to ensure the other party lived up to his end of the bargain was to look him in the eye and shake his hand. The Texas Lawyer’s Creed enshrines that ideal for Texas lawyers, declaring, “My word is my bond.” But how many of us truly practice that way?
Setting aside the contentiousness that arises so frequently in litigation (see, e.g., TRCP Rule 11 – turning a “word” into a written contract just to be sure the speaker really meant it), we routinely paint ourselves into a corner with clients by our eagerness to help or our fear of passing up income. We say, “yes, I can help you with that” when we either don’t have the time, expertise, or, perhaps, desire. Our “word” is “yes” when it probably should be “no.” We bind ourselves to do work, when we shouldn’t.
A wise author urges us to let our “yes” be “yes” and our “no” be “no.” Risking oversimplification for the sake of application, perhaps when we give our word/bond as required by the Lawyer’s Creed, we should be mindful that there are times our clients are best served when our word/bond is “no.” We can simply say, “I’m grateful that you asked me to take on that project for you, but I’m not the right fit for it.”
