Why lawyers fail to keep clients informed on Mac: causes, costs and fixes

How often lawyers fail to keep clients informed

Start with the numbers, because they change how you read a quiet inbox. The Legal Ombudsman handles complaints about legal services in England and Wales. Its 2025/26 annual data ranks poor communication first, at 24% of complaint types. Delay and failure to progress come next at 22%. Failure to advise follows at 19%. These are shares of complaint types, not of complaints. One complaint can carry several types, so the figures do not add up to 100%.

Add the categories together and the picture sharpens. The Legal Ombudsman says 46% of all complaint types it received related to communication or delay. Clients rarely separate the two. A quiet week and a stalled file look the same from the other side of the desk.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority looked at the files too. Its first-tier complaints research, with fieldwork from January to April 2025, reviewed 50 complaint files from 25 firm visits. In 13 of those 50 files, or 26%, the client was not kept informed. In 27 files, or 54%, the problem was delay or failure to progress. The 26% is the authors' own calculation from an unweighted file sample.

Read these figures with care. The SRA numbers describe the files it reviewed, not every firm in England and Wales. The file review was small, even though its firm survey was weighted to represent all firms. The research behind this page did not verify US figures, so none appear here. If you practice in the United States, check your state bar's complaint data before you apply these numbers.

What it costs you and the firm

The costs show up in three places: fees, time, and complaints. Start with fees. In one Legal Ombudsman decision dated 29 November 2024, a firm went past a cost estimate without updates or explanation. The Ombudsman found the client would have stopped the claim earlier with fee updates in February 2022. The award was £50,000 compensation plus a fee reduction of £65,935.08. The High Court later refused permission for judicial review of that decision.

Time is the second cost. Clio's 2021 Legal Trends Report, as summarized by Ruby, says attorneys on average can use just 31% of an 8-hour day on billable time. The summary names client communication interruptions, such as phone calls, as a cause of lost billable time. Treat the 31% as directional. It comes from a secondary summary, because Clio's own report page was not readable.

The cost to you is personal too. The 2016 ABA and Hazelden Betty Ford study, by Krill, Johnson and Albert, surveyed about 13,000 practicing lawyers. It found 28.3% reported some depression and 19.3% some anxiety. That study measures well-being in general. It does not link those rates to client updates, so read it as background, not as proof.

Why silence reads as neglect

Clients rarely see how a file moves. They see whether they heard from you. The ABA Journal notes that clients often mistake a lack of news for neglect. That gap is where complaints start. A client who hears nothing may assume nothing is happening, even if you worked on the file every day.

A short no-news update closes most of that gap. Say what you did, what you are waiting for, and when the client will hear from you again. That message takes a few minutes to write. It also tells the client the file is still alive.

Fixes you can use this week, for free

None of these fixes needs new software. They need a rule you apply to every matter, every time. Start with the rules that take the least thought.

1. Write the update rhythm into your first email to the client, and into the file note.
2. Set a next-update date on every open matter, even when the answer is no news.
3. Publish expected reply times. One firm the SRA reviewed published two working days for email, and the report says this helped reduce complaints about failing to keep clients informed.
4. Start every update with a plain status line: done, waiting on you, or waiting on the other side.
5. Confirm each call in a short email the same day, so the client has the decisions in writing.

Evidence behind the fixes

The two fixes with the most support in the research are the published reply times and the status tracker. The SRA says one firm's published reply times helped reduce complaints. Another firm added a live case tracker with a traffic-light system that showed when clients were waiting on the firm. It received fewer update requests. Neither report gives a figure, so you cannot measure the effect from them.

Schedule updates in Apple Mail with Send Later

Apple's Mail guide describes a Send Later button. It schedules a message for a time you choose, such as tomorrow morning or a custom time. Scheduled messages wait in the Send Later mailbox. To change one, double-click it, then choose Edit. You can also delete it before it sends.

Scheduled Send arrived with macOS Ventura, according to MacRumors. Neither source says whether your Mac must stay awake, or whether Mail must stay open, for the message to leave. Test that before you rely on it. Send a message to yourself at a time a few minutes away, and watch whether it goes out.

• Press ⌘N to open a new message in Mail.
• Put the matter name and the word Update in the subject line.
• Write the status line first, then the next step, then what you need from the client.
• Click Send Later, pick the time, and check the Send Later mailbox before the day ends.

Using Word and Outlook for update letters

If your firm drafts updates in Outlook or Word, the same rule applies. Keep one short template for the no-news update and one for progress. For a longer letter, draft in Word first, then paste it into the email. See Word for lawyers on Mac and Outlook for lawyers on Mac for more on each app.

If your firm uses a client portal, check what it does before you rely on it. Clio for Clients lets clients message their lawyer from a browser or the mobile app. It sends push notifications when a lawyer needs the client to act. The page I checked describes no Mac-specific status update feature.

Where Lazur helps, and where it stops

Lazur is a voice assistant for the Mac. It lives in the notch. Hold ⌥⌘ to ask about anything on screen, and Lazur answers out loud. Ask where something is, and Lazur draws a circle and a label around it. Ask how to do something, and it guides you one click at a time, waiting for each click. It does not click for you, send the email, or edit your files.

For this problem, Lazur is most useful at the drafting and reminder steps. Dictation is the strongest fit. Hold fn and speak, and Lazur types clean text at the cursor in any app. You still read every line before it goes out. You made the promise, so you send the update.

• Ask what a control does while you work in Mail or Outlook, and Lazur explains it out loud.
• Hold fn and dictate a status update at the cursor, then edit it before you send.
• Ask Lazur to draft the no-news update from your bullet notes.
• Ask Lazur to add an Apple Reminder for the date you promised the next update.
• Ask Lazur to walk you through Send Later, one click at a time.

Client data and your firm's rules

Client files are regulated information. Follow your employer's rules before you put client names, matter details, or privileged content on screen or in a voice request. Lazur listens and looks at the screen only while you hold the shortcut. Audio and the screenshot go to AI providers to answer you. Lazur says they are not stored, and that content is never used to train AI models. Your firm's policy still decides what you may share.

Mistakes that make the problem worse

• Promising a date you then miss. The Legal Ombudsman case shows the damage when a promised update never comes.
• Writing for lawyers instead of clients. Say what happened, what is next, and what you need from them.
• Trusting Send Later without a test. Find out whether your Mac and Mail must stay on before a deadline depends on it.
• Sending the same update to every client. A template is a start, but the matter details must be yours.

What to do next

Pick one open matter today. Write the next update date in the file note. Then schedule the message in Apple Mail with Send Later, or dictate it with fn in Outlook. Expect the first week to feel slow. The routine gets quicker once the templates exist. If you want to try the voice side, start with the free trial on the download page.