Our firm’s “Attorney-­?Client Access Policy” specifies thatunless it’s an emergency, our clients can gain access to one of ourattorneys either by scheduling a telephone appointment or else byscheduling an in­?office appointment. We do not tell clients we’llcall them back “within 24 hours”. Instead we schedule telephoneappointments for a date and time certain.

We define an “emergency” as being a situation where a person’sdeath is imminent, the police are trying to interrogate a client,or when someone is in the act of doing something that threatens theclient’s safety. We tell our clients that if their physical safetyis at risk they should call 911 before calling our office. Still,as you should be able to imagine if you’re the right candidate forthis position, the occasional worried client does manage to bluffhis or her way through and will wind up on the telephone withyou.

It’s 3pm on a sunny Wednesday afternoon. The attorney is taking amuch­?needed break to clear his head by fishing at the park. He isat his favorite spot and has a cell phone with him in case there isan emergency.

A client calls and winds­?up on the phone with you with thefollowing recitation of facts:

“I’m an important client of the firm, have been for some time. I’mat the bank and have been here for over an hour trying to get themto listen to what attorney told me to do. The bank manager is hereand unless he talks to the attorney he’s going to close my account.I consider this to be an emergency and I insist that you get theattorney on the phone right away or at least get him to call meback as soon as humanly possible!”

How do you handle this situation?