Client Input Opens Doors for Stronger Relationships With Counsel

Formal feedback and scorecards can better equip law firms to hear directly from clients about their goals, and for in-house departments to assess their engagement of outside counsel. Such input provides a roadmap for growing and strengthening client connections.

It can be used as a measurement of the firm, the team, and the individuals working on client matters. Feedback can also provide a lens for understanding how clients view a specific firm’s client service compared with those of its competitors.

Here are several key insights about what clients expect from their outside counsel.

Face time matters. The importance of face-to-face interaction in building and maintaining client relationships can’t be overstated. Personal interaction is expected in our post-pandemic environment. Face time keeps outside counsel informed about their clients’ needs and helps build trust.

Clients have shown less interest in traditional forms of entertainment, such as dinners or golf outings, instead preferring outside counsel to visit their business premises. Let’s say a client in the manufacturing industry might invite their outside counsel to tour their factory. This allows the lawyer to see the client’s operations firsthand, understand their challenges, and gain insights that could help improve their legal advice.

Collaborative succession planning. Law firms and clients focus on who will replace the senior partners handling client matters when they leave, retire, or die. Clients have increasingly expressed a desire to be more involved in firms’ discussions about succession planning.

This could involve meetings with potential successors, providing input during the selection, and having a say in the transition process. This collaborative approach ensures that clients feel valued and reassured that their legal needs will continue to be met effectively.

Anticipate future concerns. Clients highly value legal partners who address current issues and anticipate future challenges. This proactive approach allows clients to prepare for problems and mitigate risks.

While some attorneys may hesitate to bring up additional concerns, fearing they are burdening their clients, clients appreciate this foresight. It reinforces the value of their outside counsel as a strategic partner rather than just a service provider.

For example, a law firm representing a company planning a major expansion might anticipate potential regulatory challenges. They could advise the client on potential compliance issues, help them understand the regulatory landscape, and develop a strategy to address these challenges. This kind of foresight allows the client to plan their expansion in a way that minimizes regulatory risks.

Add value beyond the legal bill. Law firms need to do more than just provide competent legal services—they must offer services that differentiate them from their competitors. The definition of value varies from client to client, so it’s important to engage each client in a conversation about their specific needs.

For instance, a law firm representing a startup might add value by using their experience and knowledge of the industry to advise on business strategy, fundraising, and growth.

This kind of value-added service goes beyond the traditional legal role and can be a significant differentiator for the law firm. By adding value through the delivery of comprehensive solutions, a law firm shows it’s innovative and adaptable—qualities that are increasingly important in an evolving and increasingly competitive legal landscape.

Ongoing assessment of outside counsel performance. Scorecards are a powerful tool for companies to evaluate their outside counsel.

Components can vary depending on the specific needs and priorities of the legal department, but they often address the quality of legal services provided, responsiveness, cost, results, and diversity and inclusion. Clients have used scorecards more often to reinforce behaviors they appreciate, highlight areas for improvement, and provide firms with a benchmark of where they stand among their peers.

Scorecards can provide valuable insights into which firms are providing the best value, which are responsive, and which have the best understanding of the client’s business. This helps clients make informed decisions about which firms to continue engaging and which might need to be replaced.

Conduct regular check-ins. By understanding what clients expect, outside counsel can take several proactive steps to strengthen and deepen their most valued client relationships.

Initiate discussions about your clients’ upcoming priorities and suggest opportunities to add value, such as pro bono partnerships, introductions to colleagues, and more efficient staffing models. Ongoing conversations about clients’ priorities, goals, and concerns can strengthen relationships and examine additional opportunities to deepen the relationship.

Understand and support clients’ broad goals. Align your services and strategies with clients’ organizational goals and legal department key performance indicators. Ask if your client has departmental or company-wide strategic goals, such as diversity, equity, and inclusion metrics or environmental, social, and governance priorities, as well as how they’re personally evaluated.

Use technology. Familiarize yourself with how your firm uses innovative processes and tech tools to increase efficiencies. This can range from building custom client collaboration portals to providing legal operations consulting to using generative AI to streamline administrative tasks.

Client portals can help drive seamless communication and matter management between the law firm and its clients. They also can be customized to meet the specific needs of each client and may include features such as document sharing, task tracking, and real-time updates.

Legal operations consulting generally involves advising on the implementation of legal tech tools, process improvement strategies, or cost management techniques to save time and control costs. Offer these resources to clients as a value driver and to differentiate your firm from competitors.

As the legal industry moves from a traditional service delivery model to a more client-centric approach, law firms must use client feedback to guide its path forward. Prioritizing personal interactions with clients, involving clients in succession planning, anticipating their future concerns, and adding value beyond the legal bill are key to strengthening and deepening client relationships.

Regular check-ins, alignment with clients’ broad goals, and the innovative use of technology further enhance the client experience and differentiate a law firm from its competitors. By heeding the voice of the client, law firms can not only meet, but also exceed, client expectations—securing their position in a competitive market and paving the way for sustained growth and success.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg Industry Group, Inc., the publisher of Bloomberg Law and Bloomberg Tax, or its owners.

Author Information

Linda Sanders is director of client experience at Troutman Pepper.

Dan Pulka is chief business development and marketing officer at Troutman Pepper.

Write for Us: Author Guidelines