Ethical Good Eggs

Every now and then, an analogy presents itself that has interesting legal interpretations. When a client recently asked my firm to provide an unproven solution to his specific need, a co-worker compared the client's request to “frying an egg in a cold skillet.” The visuals that analogy conjured up, both positive and negative, especially with regard to ethical client service, kept my mind reeling for several days.

Recipes for Success

As an organization, what do we do when a client asks us to proceed through uncharted waters? Do solutions conceived outside of our comfort zone make us seem reckless or inversely, innovative?

How do we respond if our nonconforming actions provide a successful outcome? How do we market the innovative success to acquire new matters? Does the taste of success linger on our professional palette or does it make us hungry for additional, similar challenges?

Conversely, how do we respond if our solutions to the client request prove to be flawed? Did we act in the client's best interests by accepting the challenge? If we used conventional preparation methods, were we being true to the growth desires of the firm? If we seared the effort, do we over-season before serving with the hopes of masking the outcome to be more appealing? Does adding “sauce” to the effort intensify the work production for the next, similar request? Simply tossing the spoiled remains in the trash is wasteful and teaches us little.

A Watched Pot

Eggs fried in a hot skillet cook quickly, but have a discolored and hard edge. They require the use of a well-oiled vessel. They demand our full and immediate attention. They have but one opportunity to present the other side, if at all. The center yolk, the richest part, may end up unsafely prepared for consumption if the timing is not precisely accurate. How skilled and well-staffed is your organization to provide your client with this level of rigorous diligence?

If a client request leaves you staring into the bottom of a cold skillet, do you easily toss in the on-hand ingredients, turn up the heat, and then hope for the best outcome? While eggs are considered by many to be the most basic of ingredients, they are also the most difficult to prepare properly. Similarly, while we may have a fresh dozen of eager and willing associates, we need to look at the client's needs to decide which eggs need to be warmed first, and those that can enhance the effort when coldly combined.

Comfort Food for Thought

Does your firm tout solutions equivalent to fare skillfully prepared by a French chef, or do you offer the homespun, common sense offerings akin to those cooked up at the kitchen table? Both have their appeal, depending on the matter. The servings at the local diner may be sufficient, but if the client is presented with a menu and ambience from the high-rise view they may either become accustomed to the service, or they may feel uncomfortable with the extravagance. Knowing and understanding the client's culture is as important as expanding your own.

To a new client, a firm's allure consists of more than publicized successful representations or deals. The attraction also begins with the marketing materials and their presenter. Developing a targeted, client or industry-specific proposal requires research that investigates client culture, client needs, industry standards or trends, and presenting seasoned firm personnel with interests most complimentary to the tastes of the client. Any recipe for success, especially success in the appeal for new business, involves fascinating presentation techniques. What functions in the pitch for new business should also compete in the courtroom and in client advantaged negotiations. Competence paired with congeniality is an irresistible combination.

Set the Timer

Just as important as growing the firm's client base is nurturing the already established relationships. Much has been said about the word “retention” as it relates to law firms. Clients, attorneys, staff and even the existence of the firm itself are worthy of a regular review. Ongoing fine-tuning is the key to success.

An LMA article recently listed the top reasons why clients leave a firm. They include:

• Cost and billing;
• Lack of response;
• Incompetence;
• Not understanding client's needs; and
• Personality conflict.

A large law firm recruiting agency suggests that the top reasons why young attorneys leave firms include:

• Quality or type of work;
• Structural firm changes; and
• Location.

A study of why law firms fail includes the following reasons:

• Poor financial planning and money management;
• Inadequate investment in technology;
• Lack of effective leadership;
• Ineffective guidance of staff and associates;
• Inability to prepare and execute effective marketing plans; and
• Problems ensuring client satisfaction.

Certainly there are common ingredients in each of these retention issues. Perhaps it's time to look into your organization and see if any of the aforementioned retention issues exist or are beginning to ripen. Don't risk an unfavorable overall rating if only a few bad morsels are being served up.

Check the Expiration Date

Regular readers of this author's articles know that eventually a technology and training component gets folded into the content. Early adopters of new technology may boast leading edge capabilities, but new technology at the hands of unknowledgeable users risks loss of productivity and eventually the loss of client satisfaction as well. Opposing new technology has its own set of adverse reactions. Staying with the same technology menu for years past its effectiveness may save the budget, but it can create the same kind of productivity and client communication issues as the early adopters. The key to finding the balance lies in studying what a firm's clients are doing. And when it comes to training, consider helping not only the firm staff to better equip themselves, consider also helping clients who may need a nudge into this technology century. Spending time to stabilize badly developed client documents gobbles up resources and is usually not billable. Whenever possible, create documents in-house and then distribute the healthy work product to the client for their edits. If the effort is approached from a “helper” perspective, clients will benefit and their productivity will also soar.

Reheating Leftovers

When it comes to client service and just plain good law, there are processes, topics and skills that remain timeless. While these law firm staples may occasionally be described using new terminology or perhaps they become visible once again using higher definition techniques, the core values, ethics and business acumen that they represent remain unchanged at their foundation. Perhaps it's time to revisit your firm's charter, or mission and vision statement, and make sure that the expressed sentiments still reflect the message that clients, staff, partnered professionals and the community should know about the firm. The flavors of the firm may have become more diverse or perhaps they have blended with time. Take the opportunity to let the public know that the firm recognizes these influences and that what is now being served is just as appealing (or more!) as it was when the firm was founded.

Paula Campbell, a member of this newsletter's Board of Editors, is the Technology Training Specialist for her firm's California offices. The views set forth herein are the personal views of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the law firm with which she is associated.

Every now and then, an analogy presents itself that has interesting legal interpretations. When a client recently asked my firm to provide an unproven solution to his specific need, a co-worker compared the client's request to “frying an egg in a cold skillet.” The visuals that analogy conjured up, both positive and negative, especially with regard to ethical client service, kept my mind reeling for several days.

Recipes for Success

As an organization, what do we do when a client asks us to proceed through uncharted waters? Do solutions conceived outside of our comfort zone make us seem reckless or inversely, innovative?

How do we respond if our nonconforming actions provide a successful outcome? How do we market the innovative success to acquire new matters? Does the taste of success linger on our professional palette or does it make us hungry for additional, similar challenges?

Conversely, how do we respond if our solutions to the client request prove to be flawed? Did we act in the client's best interests by accepting the challenge? If we used conventional preparation methods, were we being true to the growth desires of the firm? If we seared the effort, do we over-season before serving with the hopes of masking the outcome to be more appealing? Does adding “sauce” to the effort intensify the work production for the next, similar request? Simply tossing the spoiled remains in the trash is wasteful and teaches us little.

A Watched Pot

Eggs fried in a hot skillet cook quickly, but have a discolored and hard edge. They require the use of a well-oiled vessel. They demand our full and immediate attention. They have but one opportunity to present the other side, if at all. The center yolk, the richest part, may end up unsafely prepared for consumption if the timing is not precisely accurate. How skilled and well-staffed is your organization to provide your client with this level of rigorous diligence?

If a client request leaves you staring into the bottom of a cold skillet, do you easily toss in the on-hand ingredients, turn up the heat, and then hope for the best outcome? While eggs are considered by many to be the most basic of ingredients, they are also the most difficult to prepare properly. Similarly, while we may have a fresh dozen of eager and willing associates, we need to look at the client's needs to decide which eggs need to be warmed first, and those that can enhance the effort when coldly combined.

Comfort Food for Thought

Does your firm tout solutions equivalent to fare skillfully prepared by a French chef, or do you offer the homespun, common sense offerings akin to those cooked up at the kitchen table? Both have their appeal, depending on the matter. The servings at the local diner may be sufficient, but if the client is presented with a menu and ambience from the high-rise view they may either become accustomed to the service, or they may feel uncomfortable with the extravagance. Knowing and understanding the client's culture is as important as expanding your own.

To a new client, a firm's allure consists of more than publicized successful representations or deals. The attraction also begins with the marketing materials and their presenter. Developing a targeted, client or industry-specific proposal requires research that investigates client culture, client needs, industry standards or trends, and presenting seasoned firm personnel with interests most complimentary to the tastes of the client. Any recipe for success, especially success in the appeal for new business, involves fascinating presentation techniques. What functions in the pitch for new business should also compete in the courtroom and in client advantaged negotiations. Competence paired with congeniality is an irresistible combination.

Set the Timer

Just as important as growing the firm's client base is nurturing the already established relationships. Much has been said about the word “retention” as it relates to law firms. Clients, attorneys, staff and even the existence of the firm itself are worthy of a regular review. Ongoing fine-tuning is the key to success.

An LMA article recently listed the top reasons why clients leave a firm. They include:

• Cost and billing;
• Lack of response;
• Incompetence;
• Not understanding client's needs; and
• Personality conflict.

A large law firm recruiting agency suggests that the top reasons why young attorneys leave firms include:

• Quality or type of work;
• Structural firm changes; and
• Location.

A study of why law firms fail includes the following reasons:

• Poor financial planning and money management;
• Inadequate investment in technology;
• Lack of effective leadership;
• Ineffective guidance of staff and associates;
• Inability to prepare and execute effective marketing plans; and
• Problems ensuring client satisfaction.

Certainly there are common ingredients in each of these retention issues. Perhaps it's time to look into your organization and see if any of the aforementioned retention issues exist or are beginning to ripen. Don't risk an unfavorable overall rating if only a few bad morsels are being served up.

Check the Expiration Date

Regular readers of this author's articles know that eventually a technology and training component gets folded into the content. Early adopters of new technology may boast leading edge capabilities, but new technology at the hands of unknowledgeable users risks loss of productivity and eventually the loss of client satisfaction as well. Opposing new technology has its own set of adverse reactions. Staying with the same technology menu for years past its effectiveness may save the budget, but it can create the same kind of productivity and client communication issues as the early adopters. The key to finding the balance lies in studying what a firm's clients are doing. And when it comes to training, consider helping not only the firm staff to better equip themselves, consider also helping clients who may need a nudge into this technology century. Spending time to stabilize badly developed client documents gobbles up resources and is usually not billable. Whenever possible, create documents in-house and then distribute the healthy work product to the client for their edits. If the effort is approached from a “helper” perspective, clients will benefit and their productivity will also soar.

Reheating Leftovers

When it comes to client service and just plain good law, there are processes, topics and skills that remain timeless. While these law firm staples may occasionally be described using new terminology or perhaps they become visible once again using higher definition techniques, the core values, ethics and business acumen that they represent remain unchanged at their foundation. Perhaps it's time to revisit your firm's charter, or mission and vision statement, and make sure that the expressed sentiments still reflect the message that clients, staff, partnered professionals and the community should know about the firm. The flavors of the firm may have become more diverse or perhaps they have blended with time. Take the opportunity to let the public know that the firm recognizes these influences and that what is now being served is just as appealing (or more!) as it was when the firm was founded.

Paula Campbell, a member of this newsletter's Board of Editors, is the Technology Training Specialist for her firm's California offices. The views set forth herein are the personal views of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the law firm with which she is associated.