{"id":148318,"date":"2026-04-09T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/04\/09\/late-again-what-being-habitually-late-says-about-a-lawyer\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T05:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T13:00:00","slug":"late-again-what-being-habitually-late-says-about-a-lawyer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/04\/09\/late-again-what-being-habitually-late-says-about-a-lawyer\/","title":{"rendered":"Late \u2026 Again? What Being Habitually Late Says About a Lawyer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Being late is a bad habit for some people, like picking your nose or adjusting your private parts in public. A reminder from #OttoSorts: Here\u2019s what being habitually late says to your clients.<br \/>\nThe post Late \u2026 Again? What Being Habitually Late Says About a Lawyer appeared first on Articles, Tips and Tech for Law Firms and Lawyers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Our favorite curmudgeon, Otto Sorts, reminds us what clients really think when you are habitually late for meetings, calls and even coffee. Too busy to read? Listen below, or head over to <a href=\"https:\/\/legalbroadcastingcompany.com\/attorney-at-work-today\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Legal Broadcasting Company<\/a> to subscribe to Attorney at Work Today.<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"770\" height=\"496\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.attorneyatwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Late-Again-Otto-Sorts.jpg?resize=770%2C496&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"dinosaur head on businessman pointing at his watch\" class=\"wp-image-100051524\" title=\"\"><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><em>\u201cShe\u2019s late.\u201d<br \/><\/em><em>\u201cYeah, she\u2019s always late, but she\u2019s a good attorney.\u201d<br \/><\/em><em>\u201cAt these rates, she\u2019d better be!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>It didn\u2019t matter whether she had asked for the meeting or how much her secretary or associates cajoled her. Rebecca <em>always<\/em> arrived late, in a flurry of activity and perfunctory apologies. Her co-workers and clients all knew this and tolerated it because, yes indeed, she was a good attorney.<\/p>\n<p>For most of us, being late is an accident, a mistake or an occasional oversight. But being late is a bad habit for some people, like picking your nose or adjusting your private parts in public. (Usually, only professional baseball players can pull this off acceptably.) <\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-group cust-audio-set\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"exemag-video-wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"180\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/share.transistor.fm\/e\/c3839419\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-here-s-what-being-habitually-late-says-to-me-and-to-your-clients\">Here\u2019s What Being Habitually Late Says to Me \u2014 and to Your Clients<\/h2>\n<p><strong>You think your time is more important than mine. <\/strong>Sure, this may be true sometimes. But it goes a long way toward building relationships if we both pretend it\u2019s not \u2014 particularly when I\u2019m a client and I\u2019m <em>paying<\/em> for your time. (\u201cI just had to take that call \u2014 it was someone far more important than you.\u201d)<\/p>\n<p><strong>You are disorganized.<\/strong> How comfortable are you telling your clients that you really don\u2019t have your act together? (\u201cYes, your tax extension is here somewhere. I\u2019ll get to it really, really soon.\u201d \u201cYes, I\u2019m negotiating a complex workout, but I can\u2019t calculate how much time it takes to drive across town to your office.\u201d)<\/p>\n<p><strong>You aren\u2019t important enough to be in charge of your own time. <\/strong>Someone else must be running your life. As a client, I\u2019d much rather speak to <em>that<\/em> person than to the underling. (\u201cI just couldn\u2019t tear away from a meeting with the senior partner. Now \u2026 why are we meeting?\u201d)<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-can-you-overcome-habitual-lateness\">Can You Overcome Habitual Lateness?<\/h2>\n<p>Like any bad habit, you can overcome it. There are fixes galore: time management classes, reorganization tools for your desk and computer, tricks like setting your clock ahead, and even psychological counseling and spiritual guidance. <\/p>\n<p>None of these will help, however, if you don\u2019t get that being on time matters, and then develop the deep-down discipline (read <em>professionalism<\/em>) to actually be on time.<\/p>\n<p>For me, that\u2019s the crux of the matter. You are supposed to be a professional. Get it together and act like one.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">Image \u00a9 iStockPhoto.com. <\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile has-white-background-color has-background\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.attorneyatwork.com\/subscribe\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"372\" height=\"106\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.attorneyatwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/AttorneyatWork-Logo-%C2%AE-2021-1.jpg?resize=372%2C106&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-100019522 size-aaw-full-width-no-crop\" title=\"\"><\/a><\/figure>\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p><strong>Sign up for Attorney at Work\u2019s daily practice tips newsletter <a href=\"https:\/\/www.attorneyatwork.com\/subscribe\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">here<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/feeds.transistor.fm\/attorney-at-work-today\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">subscribe to our podcast<\/a>, Attorney at Work Today.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Being late is a bad habit for some people, like picking your nose or adjusting your private parts in public. A reminder from #OttoSorts: Here\u2019s what being habitually late says to your clients. The post Late \u2026 Again? What Being Habitually Late Says About a Lawyer appeared first on Articles, Tips and Tech for Law [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-148318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legal_matters"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148318\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}