John Allison, a former litigator, won’t easily forget one of his more long-winded clients who just “couldn’t stop himself” from going on and on during trial testimony.

Finally, Allison, a San Rafael, California-based career coach and mentor for lawyers, resorted to telling his client, “I think you answered my question.” The judge then smiled, according to Allison, and said, “Are you sure you don’t want him to keep talking?”

It’s a problem that many lawyers face: What can and should they do about a client with the gift of gab? While experienced lawyers have tips on working with loquacious clients, they also agree on one main point: In the end, some clients can’t help it. They can’t shut up.

“You can prepare a client and help them understand the seriousness of not following your instructions” about oversharing, says Ronald C. Minkoff, a partner in the New York office of Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, where he chairs the law firm’s professional responsibility group. “Clients don’t follow their lawyer’s advice at their own peril, and if they want to talk, that’s what is going to happen.”

Cari L. Sheehan is an assistant general counsel in the Indianapolis office of Taft Stettinius & Hollister, where she specializes in legal ethics and compliance. 

A former litigator, she admits that it can be challenging to rein in a talkative client.

“There are some clients who really want to tell their story,” Sheehan says. “They want to go on social media or even hold a press conference. As attorneys, we can advise them against this, but ultimately, the attorney has to follow the client’s direction.”

Lawyers, Sheehan notes, are generally obligated under Model Rule 1.2 of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct to follow the direction of their clients. The rule specifically states that the lawyer, “shall abide by a client’s decisions concerning the objectives of representation” and consult with the client about the means of carrying that out.

Arthur D. Burger chairs Jackson & Campbell’s professional responsibility group from the firm’s Washington, D.C., office. Burger says—whether clients listen or not—lawyers should still warn their clients about the consequences of oversharing in face-to-face conversations, on text and, particularly these days, on social media.

“You need to be having these conversations at the outset,” Burger says. “They need to be alerted about all the different ways in which things they say can come back to bite them in discovery.”

Earlier this year, billionaire Les Wexner was going off script in a House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform deposition about his ties to convicted sex offender and multimillionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein. Caught on mic is his lawyer Michael N. Levy whispering in Wexner’s ears with a warning, “I'll f- - -ing kill you if you answer another question with more than five words, OK?”

Levy did not respond to ABA Journal interview requests. 

While the viral warning may not be representative of how most attorneys talk to their clients, the concern about clients jabbering too much during depositions and trial is relatable, lawyers say.

Chad Colton is a partner in the Portland, Oregon, office of Perkins Coie (soon to become Ashurst Perkins Coie after a recent merger announcement), where he is a litigator focused on sports, entertainment and video game sectors. Colton says when lawyers try to “convert talkative people into short-winded speakers” for their trial testimony, their clients end up sounding clipped.

Instead, Colton tells his clients to talk “as long as you need to fully and accurately answer only the question that is asked” and then stop.

“If you tell a client to answer with one sentence or one word, if you artificially constrain them as a witness, their testimony can become inaccurate or sound disingenuous,” he adds.

Minkoff says one tactic for reining in a client at deposition is to suggest on the record that the client answer the question, “or we’ll be here all day.”

Lawyers can also wait until the client stops talking and then call a break to give the client some feedback before the deposition starts up again, he says.

Colton says the best way to keep clients focused is through intensive preparation beforehand. 

However, he adds, “to some degree, you have to buckle up once you are in deposition because you lose control.”

Colton says clients are under an “immense amount of pressure,” and it’s important for lawyers to “give them some grace.”

In addition, he says, lawyers should trust their own ability to come back at the end of the deposition and “correct the record” and “clean up any problems” that a client’s testimony created.

Model Rule 1.4 requires that lawyers keep clients informed about their matters and consult with them. Communication must be prompt.

Deanna Brocker is an owner of the Brocker Law Firm in Cary, North Carolina, where she practices professional disciplinary defense and ethics counseling for lawyers. Brocker says she gets calls from her attorney clients “expressing frustration” about “overly demanding clients who want to talk frequently or can’t stay on point.”

“This can become a problem if it is interfering with the lawyer’s ability to do work for that client and other clients or is causing stress for the lawyer,” Brocker says.

Brocker suggests that lawyers manage client expectations about what prompt means at the first meeting and establish, particularly with talkative clients, that a large portion of the communication can happen via email.  Staff, she says, can also help keep phone or face-to-face conversations between the lawyer and the client focused by making the appointment, reserving a specific amount of time, and setting the agenda.

Allison says there’s a need to strike the right balance with chatty clients between “the efficacy of getting work done and also allowing them a certain amount of latitude to vent.”

He suggests gently reminding them that they are being charged by the hour.

“It’s important for clients to feel that their lawyer is on their side, and if they feel that their lawyer is not listening to them, that does not bode well for their relationship,” Allison says. “Clients need a certain amount of emotional support from lawyers.”