Change, or become extinct

We are in the era of customer service, but many law firms haven't received the message. This disconnect has been clearly revealed by the report, Bellwether 2015: The Age of the Client. 80 per cent of lawyers believe they are delivering 'above average' service, but only 40 per cent of private clients think they are actually receiving this quality of service.

In the legal sector, this gap in perception is an emotive issue for both lawyers and clients. Both parties feel misunderstood, but interestingly, Professor John Flood, from Westminster University, believes that lawyers are part of the problem as they have a vested interest in retaining the complexity and difficulty of law.

There may be some truth to this. Due to the abundance of 'information' that is now freely available thanks to the internet, prior to going to their lawyer, clients have a fair idea of the issue they are dealing with. Also, they are not looking for a copious legal analysis of the situation; they simply want their problem resolved in the most cost effective and time efficient manner.

The 300 page report is no more

Shirley Brookes, senior partner at PwC Legal, offers a good example of the issue in the context of legal due diligence. Most due diligence reports are dull and boring, often with unnecessary details cited. The organisation spoke to 30 general counsels, and the resonating sentiment was that the traditional approach of a data room (once physical, now online) and 300 page reports detailing the nuts and bolts of hard to understand photocopier leases or similar was 'dire'.

Following the survey, PwC Legal has introduced a new due diligence service that provides clients with a much slimmed-down and more user-friendly report. It is designed to reassure the client that the firm knows what the important issues are; and critically that they are being appropriately dealt with.

This example fundamentally illustrates the importance of 'client engagement'. Clients assume that when they engage a lawyer they will get 'good law' - it's a given and not something that they feel they should pay a premium for. Most clients care about the value and quality of the relationship - i.e. how well do you service me in understanding and delivering my business, or addressing my personal issue?

Add depth to your pool

Good customer service driven by deep engagement abets business growth, generating opportunities for creative and innovative offerings too. Boutique media law firm, Wiggin, is a good example. The firm fishes in a very specific pond, so to grow, the organisation constantly needs to find ways of making the pool deeper or wider.

For example, the firm already acts for all major US film studios, so there isn't another studio that the organisation can go and find. Consequently, the firm continuously looks to identify new services that it can deliver to keep the business growing in the long term.

This ability to develop new ways of working and delivering superior service, requires both thinking outside the box and technology.

Patrick Allen, senior partner at the civil liberties London law firm Hodge Jones & Allen, recently commented that lawyers are very keen to just be lawyers and not think broadly about how they are delivering their work.

Lawyers are resistant to change, so putting in new IT systems, case management systems, flexible working and so on, helps to deliver better and more cost effective services, but most lawyers resist the adoption of technology.

This view is corroborated separately by another report, The Art of Keeping Up, which highlights that even though lawyers are conscientious about their work, 39 per cent don't enjoy business management, 36 per cent are not entrepreneurial, 34 percent are not early adopters of technology, and 15 per cent have no clear strategy for the future direction of their business.

Furthermore, 23 per cent don't consider investment in systems and process as important, and 21 per cent believe it's not important to be technologically advanced.

It's all in the knitting

Clearly, the culture of an organisation says a lot about lawyers' attitude towards technology, business management and change overall. Dana Denis-Smith, who runs Obelisk Support, a legal solutions business for in-house and law firms, has a passionate view on this. She believes that the biggest problem that law firms have is the culture that they have created over time.

It's possible that the culture of a firm is partially linked to their organisational structure, but many firms have created the wrong way of dealing with clients. For instance, lawyers don't put their clients first.

To them, a client is just another source of work and the work that they undertake for them comes first. The reality though is that clients actually need somebody to stand by them, and make them feel supported in a time of need. But lawyers often aren't very good at doing that.

An entrepreneurial approach to business is required. Presently, law firms don't see themselves as businesses. With the deregulation of the legal sector and disaggregation of legal services, to a large extent, lawyers' output is a commodity. With access to the internet, automated legal advice and packaged products easily available on the market, effective and proper client-centric service provides the much needed 'stickiness' to retain and grow clients.

This in turn demands a much more positive attitude towards change. Resistance to alter the way of working to meet the needs of clients is akin to biting the hand that feeds. It indicates a negative attitude and demonstrates a lack of attention, which is likely to be reflected in the bottom line. The above mentioned Bellwether 2015 survey shows that those who are embracing change are in a growth situation three times out of four.

Outlook for advisers

To succeed in the current climate, lawyers need to be more than just great lawyers - they need to be smart business people. Lawyers need to implement clear strategies for every part of their business - from client relationship management, marketing and business development to smart use of tools and technology.

A healthy mix of technology, culture and an entrepreneurial approach to business can however make a major difference to the quality of lawyers' interaction with clients. Done well, such an approach will support firms in winning over clients, growing the business and thriving. And therefore,
no - law firm growth and excellent customer service are not mutually exclusive.

Undoubtedly, there is a need for the legal brain - there are many cases that are complex and hence require a bespoke approach. On the other hand, there are possibly an equal number of cases (or even more) where the service can be easily automated and sold.

So in order to deliver the best customer service and flourish, legal service providers or indeed any type of service provider, must know their sweet spot in the market. That will then allow them to adopt the optimal mix of tools and business approaches to deliver against client requirements.

Jon Whittle is a market development manager at LexisNexis