Voice of the Client: So Important, It Comes First

Today's leading firms are delivering what clients want, the way they want it, when they want it.

Increasingly, clients are now insisting on predictable budgets and timeframes. Clients may not always ask for it by name, though more RFPs do specify this requirement, but what they really want from their firms is process improvement (PI) and project management (PM).

It is the combination of PI and PM that enables us to have excellent processes that are managed well; one without the other only produces an excellent process that isn't managed well or a project that is managed well but still relies on a broken process.

Employed together, they:

• Support unparalleled teamwork and communication;
• Reduce wasteful activities;
• Improve quality of work product and service;
• Allow us to discover best practices; and
• Increase value, to both clients and firms.

It is vital to have effective marketing and communications, but if legal and business professionals don't listen for — and hear — the Voice of the Client, we risk missing the mark in our strategy, messaging and positioning (as well as marketing operations, technology, staffing and so forth). I always say: It's cheap to guess, but it's expensive to be wrong.

We also miss opportunities to improve our work product and service delivery, both of which must be continuously improved in order to be competitive in a crowded market place. There is no question that increasingly sophisticated and demanding clients want more from their lawyers and law firms — and that there are “new law” and service providers that are well positioned to compete for work that used to be bread and butter for law firms.

In fact, that voice is so important in process improvement that it is literally the first of five key principles that we observe. We start any exploration about where things are and are not working in our processes by learning what clients value.

When we apply this principle of “value in the eyes of the client” to a process, we want to examine every activity from the client's perspective and understand what value is clear, what's possibly value added and what isn't clear at all. All non-value add activities are prime candidates for minimization or outright elimination.

This idea explains why “efficiency” is about so much more than simply “doing more with less”. It's about doing the right things, the right way and then doing them right — the first time, every time. How we define “right” begins with understanding what a “win” is for both the client and the firm.

Thus, for every project, we want to know: what constitutes a win? This not only provides opportunities to demonstrate our ability to understand and reconcile the differences between legal outcomes and business outcomes. In short, this also allows us to serve as counselors.

If we approach this correctly, there should be no tradeoffs: everyone should benefit. See, Figure 1 below.

Consider also that this advice is not limited to legal professionals working with their clients. It also applies to business professionals working in law firms and legal departments.

There are various processes that already capture some of this data: Client interviews (obviously); timekeeping; billing; experience databases; calendars; events; requests for proposals/tenders and proposals; alerts and newsletters; content tracking; and website statistics.

However, we must consider the quantity and quality of that data. If we aren't asking the right questions or pose them in a manner that creates a positive bias, we may not truly hear the real voice of the client. And, if that happens, a firm might base entire programs or even justify significant budgets on items that lawyers think are important but may not matter so much to clients and prospects.

There are plenty of studies that show clients want lawyers who will be their business partners, who will understand and help them achieve their goals. The rise of procurement and legal operations professionals provide ample evidence that legal department teams aren't just talking the talk, they're walking the walk, focusing on process and workflow redesign, project management, staffing models that include different outsourcing and use of contract lawyers as well as a reorganization of resources, generally.

Moreover, there is no arguing that technology, automation, Artificial Intelligence, etc. are encompassed in continuous improvement and are usually at least a part of most efficiency approaches. However, if we want technology to do its job and for it to be adopted, we must assess and purchase those solutions in the context of overall, continuous improvement.

The Chief Legal Officer Survey has been conducted and published annually by Altman Weil since 2000, most recently in September and October 2018, where process improvement and project management were highlighted:

“Law departments are pursuing a variety of process improvements aimed at increasing efficiency. Forty-two percent of law departments are redesigning workflow; 39% are restructuring internal resources, 27% have knowledge management programs and 25% are adopting project management methods. However, process improvements are rated consistently as less effective in improving efficiency than reassigning work internally.

“Process improvement aimed at transforming traditional law department structures and approaches is clearly more complicated than reallocating work or cutting costs, but it also may deliver the greatest long-term payoff,” according to Altman Weil principal and survey co-author Jim Wilber.

As many law departments are still at the beginning of this work, there could not be a better time for law firms to approach clients and ask about their plans and goals. Process improvement methodologies, concepts and tools are a powerful approach to innovation and transformation in law firms and legal departments. They are also highly effective for forging, furthering and even cementing client relationships.

By way of example, law firms such as Parker Poe and Poyner Spruill are hosting certification courses where they are learning and working on real processes together. Law firm marketers Kristen Leis of Parker Poe and Brandi Hobbs of Poyner Spruill lead the way on the Voice of the Client and the client experience.

With the Parker Poe program, clients in attendance included one of the largest U.S. banks, a leading wireless infrastructure provider, a national retailer and a regional shipping company. “The fact that Parker Poe was willing to host this program says a lot about the firm's willingness to be innovative and to look for solutions that are win-win for both the client and the firm,” says Peter Barr, general counsel of Rack Room Shoes. See, https://bit.ly/2SYYHSj.

Poyner Spruill's managing partner Dan Cahill, says: “I was really pleased to hear the generous and grateful comments of clients who approached me at the event. This project management and process improvement program is a great example of the effort our firm puts into enhancing the client experience and constantly working to create a true partnership with our clients.”

“Our team is always focused on partnering with clients in a way that adds real value to the bottom line,” says Kelsey Mayo, employee benefits practice leader at Poyner Spruill. “Participating in this program alongside our clients allowed us to learn more about how and where we can help them make a significant impact.”

Moreover, firms such as Morgan Lewis, the first firm to host a course and participate with its clients, and Ward & Smith are taking the skills they develop and are working on processes to drive value for both the firm and its clients. Tess Blair, Chair of Morgan Lewis' e-data practice group, says: “Inviting clients to join us in our pursuit of continuous process improvement has been a unique way to enhance already great relationships with key clients. Sharing a common process language and commitment to continuous process improvement aligns us with our clients in a way no other outreach can.”

This is an approach where preferred law firms and cross-functional teams from a law department attended workshops together, using a framework and PI tools for effective collaboration. Three cross-functional, cross-organizational teams mapped the current and future state processes, identified problems and opportunities and received approval for immediate improvements right away in significant processes: Billing, litigation and subpoenas.

Areas of focus included faster completion time, lower costs and fewer errors — all of which mattered to both the law department client and the firm.

Sample Results

• Billing Process
  • Lowered number of rejected invoices by 43%
  • Decreased total dollar amount of rejected invoices by 41%
• Subpoena Process
  • Improved legal outcomes
  • Decreased average subpoena cycle time by 44%
  • New dashboard
• Experience and results convinced professionals known for skepticism

When law firms really listen to the Voice of the Client, they can improve efficiency, deliver excellent quality of work and service, demonstrate the high probability of successful outcomes and produce what clients crave: predictability — and a real business partner.

Client satisfaction studies demonstrate that it is critically important for lawyers to become more than service providers and perform instead like business partners. Engaging in process improvement demonstrates deep commitment on both sides to a business partnership.

It is increasingly clear that law firms that are not engaged in process improvement will not have the same compelling culture and mindset of continuous improvement or the metrics to ensure they deliver particular types of work to a high standard. In fact, they are at a serious competitive disadvantage in winning new work from existing and prospective clients.

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Catherine Alman MacDonagh, JD, a former corporate counsel and law firm marketing and business development executive, is the CEO and Founder of the Legal Lean Sigma Institute LLC. She can be reached at [email protected].