Key Values of the Client Partnership Model: User-Centricity
Though law is a client service business, many firms still do not initiate discussions with their clients about the firm’s model of legal service delivery, and whether it’s working.
At a conference last year I sat in a room with several corporate legal operations staff who said they don’t understand why law firms don’t reach out in this way. “I get marketing materials all the time from my bank,” said one of them, “but never from my law firm.” Another said that he would be delighted if the firms on his employer’s panel would reach out and ask to hear how he would prefer to communicate with them. In practice, he said, these discussions simply don’t happen.
Somehow, over years of success and consistent market growth in the industry, large law firms in particular seem to have forgotten that being in professional services means putting the client – the user of those services – first. Doing so requires practicing empathy for your clients and understanding their needs on a deeper level than matter-specific. Even on a deeper level than just legal. This is not about “my client needs me to close this deal seamlessly and promptly” or “my client needs me to settle this case for the lowest possible sum.” That expertise in legal work is assumed. Instead, this is about “my client needs me to know who they are, what matters to them, how their business works, how s/he reports in to senior management, who reports in to them, how different aspects of the business work together, and what pressures they are under.” Understanding this, and then ensuring that the delivery of legal advice and communications around matters and costs is done in a way that genuinely serves the client, providing them with the right, relevant advice at the right time, in a format that enables them to quickly digest the information and easily report it to those that matter in the client’s business environment – that is the golden ticket to successful legal services of the future.
How to adjust for it: It sounds facile, but the critical change here is for law firms to spend time actively listening to their clients. The lack of structure around “listening sessions”, and the absence of solutions provided at those sessions, is what makes them at once scary for lawyers and enticing to clients. Even at legal innovation conferences, when the word “empathy” is mentioned people apologize for it in advance – “forgive me, I’m about to talk about a [hushed tone] – soft skill.” Embrace the indeterminate nature of these conversations. Our product is knowledge and it’s only relevant when it adequately serves the customer. The only way we can possibly know whether that synergy is happening is by reaching out and speaking to people – not by email, but in person, or on the phone. Ask the important questions: how is this working for you? How would you like to hear from me? What else can I be doing for you? Who else would you like to hear from? What other needs do you have?
In design thinking exercises, the mindset you want to tap into is one of humility, curiosity, inquisitiveness. Law firms that are able to train their lawyers to approach their clients with a genuine, humble interest in their business, and ask questions about how they can help beyond what they’ve been doing, will win this round. The way to do this is to open up a line of communication with your clients and let them know that you are open to their concerns, that you will focus on their needs above and beyond all others. One client I spoke to recently said that the issue with his supply chain is that he is constantly exposed only to the “hero lawyers” – but he doesn’t want heroes. He wants to speak to people who understand where he’s coming from and who can honestly agree to meet him halfway.
Law as a profession has been booming so there hasn’t been a need for many top tier firms to engage in this kind of flexibility. Be warned: the boom will not last forever. As clients wise up to what is available in terms of efficiency measures, pricing innovation, technology solutions, they will know enough to recognize when a firm is shirking innovation in the interest of rigid billing and service structures. Firms that get out ahead of this now will be the ones to look out for in the future.
Listen…