Is your law firm giving clients what they really want for Christmas?

By Manju Manglani, Editor, Managing Partner

Most partners say they are motivated by client satisfaction above all else, but are curiously resistant to changing the way they price or deliver their services. Recent research has found that corporate counsel are dissatisfied with this type of behaviour '¨and with the traditional legal service model. They have even suggested that law firms are least likely to lead change in the legal marketplace – a view quietly echoed by many managing partners.

Business innovations have been pushed through at some purportedly forward-thinking law firms. These range from process improvements to flexible resourcing to value-based matter pricing. But, look closely and you’ll see that they are often the result of the managing partner being vested with the authority to act in the best interests of the firm, with caveats. Those who have the power to '¨make unilateral decisions implicitly understand that they are expected to take a consultative approach to avoid mutiny in the ranks later.

The road to gaining partner buy-in is never easy; managing partners often face an uphill struggle to change ‘the way we do '¨things around here’. Even those who have proven themselves '¨time and again at leading change find it difficult to persuade their partners to support innovations which carry a significant risk of failure. Successfully leading the development and implementation of a new service delivery model may help to garner confidence in their overall leadership, but not necessarily in the latest initiative – it’s hard to argue precedents with lawyers.

Meanwhile, clients are getting increasingly used to driving change in law firms’ service delivery. Legal project management, fixed fees and client-accessible matter dashboards are already becoming commonplace; more change is on the way. Clearly, it’s much better to anticipate your clients’ needs and to provide them with tailored solutions than to wait to be given a numbered list of the ways in '¨which your firm’s services need to change. While the latter may '¨be easier for partners to accept, it is a reactive strategy and fails '¨to anticipate competitors who wisely chose to be proactive. '¨It’s going to be difficult for your firm to prepare for the changes coming up in the legal market if it has no hand on the reins.

So, use the seasonal break to think about which service ‘gifts’ your clients would find most useful in the coming year. Think outside the proverbial (Christmas) box and explore what value-added support (beyond legal advice) would really help them. Next, test your ideas with your best client contacts, refine your concepts and then repeat the process until you have a working plan which you can present to your partners as client approved. It will, of course, still be a challenge to convince them to innovate, but at least you’ll have the winning argument that it will make their clients (almost) as happy as children on Christmas day.

Wishing you peace and joy over the festive season.

Until next time,