{"id":2985,"date":"2022-07-19T15:02:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-19T13:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bignondekeyser.fr\/en\/?p=2985"},"modified":"2022-07-19T15:02:46","modified_gmt":"2022-07-19T13:02:46","slug":"client-centricity-in-the-legal-profession-challenges-and-opportunities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bignondekeyser.fr\/en\/client-centricity-in-the-legal-profession-challenges-and-opportunities\/","title":{"rendered":"Client-centricity in the legal profession: challenges and opportunities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Patrick Bignon and Richard King of consultancy Bignon De Keyser consider how legal businesses and lawyers can be more client-centric<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bignon De Keyser consultants Patrick\u00a0Bignon (PB, based in Paris) and Richard King (RK,\u00a0based in London) reflect on the importance of client-centricity, why it\u2019s a challenge (and an opportunity) in the legal profession and offer some thoughts on ways to address this.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

How do you define client-centricity?<\/strong><\/p>\n

PB:<\/strong>\u00a0Businesses talk about putting the client\u00a0first and use the famous phrase \u2018the customer is king\u2019. This is true, but it is more demanding than that.\u00a0Do you really understand what your client\u00a0wants from you?\u00a0What\u00a0are the client\u2019s business imperatives? Do you understand the commercial\u00a0issues they face in their sector and their market\u00a0at the moment?\u00a0This takes an investment of time,\u00a0expertise and experience, but\u00a0the client wants\u00a0advice that works for them and their business, not generic or bland guidance that isn\u2019t differentiated.<\/p>\n

RK:<\/strong>\u00a0Client-centricity is\u00a0really thinking about your how your business is organised, and how you manage service delivery, from the client\u2019s perspective.\u00a0Thinking about what is best for the client, not you and your business.\u00a0And whenyou stand in your client\u2019s shoes,\u00a0you\u2019re trying to think about their whole experience of working with you, not just the legal advice or technical analysis.\u00a0Is your business easy to deal with?\u00a0What is the client\u2019s experience of your people?\u00a0Is the whole of your brand something with which the client can align themselves?<\/p>\n

Why is client-centricity so important?<\/strong><\/p>\n

PB:<\/strong>\u00a0Word of mouth is a\u00a0very important way in which legal professionals win business.\u00a0You can enhance your brand significantly in the market if your clients pass on to others their praise for your quality of service and the care you show for them.\u00a0Clients expect lawyers to know the law; you can really differentiate yourself if your reputation in the market is that your service,\u00a0responsiveness and commerciality are exceptional.<\/p>\n

RK:<\/strong>\u00a0Client attrition costs legal businesses money and it is a lot harder, and more expensive, to win new clients than\u00a0win more business from your existing clients.\u00a0It is good business sense and good economics to focus on the relationship with existing clients to deepen and broaden that.\u00a0There is good evidence that client-centric businesses are more profitable as a result.<\/p>\n

What obstructs client-centricity in legal businesses?<\/strong><\/p>\n

PB:<\/strong>\u00a0Professional service firms can create performance measures for their people that value revenue and billable hours over everything else. It\u2019s not surprising then\u00a0that lawyers don\u2019t invest time in the client relationship: if all that matters is the next transaction, then the lawyers will stay focused on\u00a0selling more \u2018products\u2019 or time and won\u2019t prioritise how they can support their existing clients better.<\/p>\n

RK:<\/strong>\u00a0Any business as it evolves develops ways of working that are set up at its own convenience, for reasons of\u00a0cost, risk management\u00a0or efficiency.\u00a0This is quite natural but some of these procedures are not client-friendly and in fact put clients off.\u00a0You need constantly to re-examine whether the business processes you put in place help your client relationships or hinder them. How do you make the client journey with your business simpler and easier?<\/p>\n

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Aligning with Your Organisation\u2019s Purpose to Create Value is one of the topics at October’s Law Firm Marketing Summit.\u00a0<\/i>Click here for more details<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

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Are there simple remedies to make\u00a0client-centricity central to\u00a0a professional firm?<\/strong><\/p>\n

PB:<\/strong>\u00a0Organisations that make a commitment to client-centricity from the\u00a0top, and get their leaders to speak about it and be involved closely in initiatives, will make progress. Only if people see the partners and leadership \u2018walking the talk\u2019 will you see a\u00a0change in behaviour.<\/p>\n

RK:<\/strong>\u00a0There aren\u2019t simple remedies.\u00a0This does have to be a \u2018whole organisation\u2019 or cultural change.\u00a0Patrick mentioned the need to re-examine metrics.\u00a0The way partners approach business development\u00a0has to shift from prioritising sales to building relationships.\u00a0And you will probably need to change some of your business processes.\u00a0None of these are quick fixes.<\/p>\n

What suggestion do you have to help a legal business improve its client-centricity?<\/strong><\/p>\n

PB:<\/strong>\u00a0Understanding the gap between the client\u2019s expectations and their perceptions of actual experience is\u00a0critical.\u00a0You can\u2019t do this unless someone owns the client relationship and is accountable for managing it.\u00a0A client relationship partner normally does this: but is it clear which person that is, what their role is and how they will be evaluated when performing that role?<\/p>\n

RK:<\/strong>\u00a0Most businesses struggle to coordinate and integrate their data about their clients.\u00a0It exists in different systems; different departments don\u2019t share information about the clients with which they\u2019ve worked. You need to organise this data so you can build a complete picture of the client\u2019s needs\u00a0and issues\u00a0and then share this information appropriately.<\/p>\n

What suggestion do you have to help\u00a0individual lawyers improve\u00a0their own client-centricity?<\/strong><\/p>\n

PB:<\/strong>\u00a0The more lawyers invest in learning about client industries and sectors, the better they will understand their clients\u2019 businesses and\u00a0the more natural it will be to tailor advice to meet their needs.\u00a0Invite clients to come and speak to your firm and your teams about their business, their challenges in the market and their expectations of you as lawyers.\u00a0In my experience, this is always a win-win.<\/p>\n

RK:<\/strong>\u00a0I have seen great benefits from lawyers conducting regular relationship reviews with their clients, and routinely meeting clients after matters have concluded, to identify strengths and areas for improvement. Apart from\u00a0the lawyers\u00a0learning a great deal about what clients like and dislike, clients like to be asked to do this and the actual meeting itself often serves to strengthen the relationship.<\/p>\n

Patrick\u00a0Bignon\u00a0is a founding partner of Bignon de Keyser, a business consultancy focused on the legal industry, and Richard King is a partner and consultant at the firm who was previously chief legal operations officer at Herbert Smith Freehills\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

www.bignondekeyser.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Contact presse :<\/p>\n

Marie Merklen \u2013 Consultante m\u00e9dias
\nT. 01 85 09 31 78
\nE. m.merklen@eliott-markus.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Patrick Bignon and Richard King of consultancy Bignon De Keyser consider how legal businesses and lawyers can be more client-centric Bignon De Keyser consultants Patrick\u00a0Bignon (PB, based in Paris) and Richard King (RK,\u00a0based in London) reflect on the importance of client-centricity, why it\u2019s a challenge (and an opportunity) in the legal profession and offer some\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dans-la-presse-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bignondekeyser.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bignondekeyser.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bignondekeyser.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bignondekeyser.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bignondekeyser.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2985"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bignondekeyser.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2986,"href":"https:\/\/www.bignondekeyser.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2985\/revisions\/2986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bignondekeyser.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bignondekeyser.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bignondekeyser.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}