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Lori Brazier*

Has your firm been asked to comment on how it proactively manages client service?   Do you ask how you can distinguish your firm from others when making a pitch for work from a new prospect – or to get more or different work from an existing client?

The question really is:  how does the firm compete on service?  Many large users of legal services (insurers, banks and other financial institutions, government, corporations) are seeking to work with a limited number of law firms and develop deeper relationships with them.  Some will move work if the price is right, they have access to effective legal counsel, and they are comfortable with service.

Service needs to be managed, even with a client who has enjoyed a long-standing relationship with the firm.  Most firms know this.  Few can articulate how they go about managing service.  Managing service means paying attention to the key elements of service:  accessibility, turnaround (timeliness) and ease of doing business.  A mechanism to address service issues when they arise must also be in place.

Several years ago, our firm developed a seven-point service guarantee for law firms that we continue to recommend across this country.   The elements are:

1.  Clear expectations. Tell every client how the firm will ensure timeliness and make it easy for the client to do business with the firm.  These elements should be incorporated and every proposal for legal services and every engagement letter.

2.  Accessibility. Identify legal teams and backups for every client, with the capacity to be reached 24/7. Return phone calls in four hours or fewer.  Paralegal and secretarial staff should serve as secondary back-ups; they are often easier to reach.

3.  Timeliness.  Manage expectations: set a deadline for delivery of services or establish timelines to accomplish key milestones in longer matters (like deals and litigation).  Create case plans for all matters requiring ten or more hours of legal work. Meet the schedule for communications, deliver documents on time, and be on time for every meeting.

4.  Convenience. Hold meetings at the client’s premises, unless otherwise arranged.  This is about ease of doing business.  Visiting the law firm is often an inconvenience for clients.

5.  Paperless. Reduce paper; use e-mail for correspondence and document transmission, including bills. Provide clients with online access to documents and status reports.  Again, this is about ease of doing business.

6.  Price. Ensure there are no surprises on price. Always estimate what the client should expect to pay.  Tell the client if circumstances change the estimate and revise the estimate.  Move away from talking about hourly rates and towards fees and ±10% ranges for each phase of the work.

7.  Satisfaction. If the client is not satisfied with these elements of service, which is different from the results of the case or file, then perhaps the firm should reimburse twice the fee paid by the client. This, however, would be contingent on a formal discussion between the client and the firm’s managing partner.

Law firms shy away from giving a money-back guarantee (more common elsewhere in the service industry).  But, why not give the guarantee – as long as the firm has systems in place to manage service?

* Lori Brazier is a partner with Catalyst Consulting. The firm has been providing advice to law firms and law departments since 1994 and is designated as the Preferred Supplier for Legal Services Consulting by the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association. Lori can be contacted at (416) 367-4447 or through the website at http://www.catalystlegal.com.