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Legal Commentary

In Search of Perfect Client Service

Why Lawyers Seem To Stumble. Blawg from attorney Patrick Lamb

Post Frequency: 1.8/day

Last Entry: March 17, 2011 at 16:14:07

Congrats to Nicole Auerbach, Superwoman JD

Posted on March 09, 2009
I've written before about my partners. They are amongst the finest people I know, and they are damn fine lawyers. One of the things I've never been able to convey in this blog is how much I learn from them and enjoy our encounters. In so many respects, their views on the issues I cover in this blog are much more interesting and enlightened than my own...

Desperate Times Cause Outbreak Of Stupidity: Anatomy Of A Lost Customer

Posted on March 04, 2009

Eliminating Coffee. That'll Fix Things.

Posted on March 03, 2009

Who Is Accountable For The Lack Of Vision?

Posted on March 01, 2009

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"Maybe this will make us live the way we should have been living."

Posted on February 28, 2009

The Fine Art of Overbilling

Posted on February 28, 2009

Associate Layoffs Beg The Question: Who Is Doing The Work

Posted on February 27, 2009

Finally, an honest engagement letter

Posted on February 27, 2009

How Do Boutique Law Firms Deliver Greater Value With Alternative Fees

Posted on February 26, 2009

Seller Must Adapt To Buyer

Posted on February 18, 2009
Just a few days ago, I posted You Must Understand Their Expectations Before You Can Meet Them, the latest is a long line of posts in which I articulate my basic premise that Clients have the power of the Buyer and that law is, inherently, a Buyer's market...

The Problem With Most Fixed Fee Proposals

Posted on February 18, 2009
Jim Hassett's latest in his series of of posts on alternative fees is now available. This is a very important post on how to set a fixed fee. Jim notes that there are two ways of getting to a fixed number, cost plus pricing and value pricing...

Dan Hull Podcast Full of Great Insights

Posted on February 14, 2009
My friend Dan Hull of Hull McGuire and author of What About Clients? is interviewed by "Charon QC" in a podcast covering a wide range of topics. Dan offers insights on topics ranging from the economy to client service to lawyer layoffs to cross-border collaboration and more...

You Must Understand Their Expectations Before You Can Meet Them

Posted on February 13, 2009
The title comes from a line by Matt Homann is his post, Ten Rules of Rainmaking. The line reminded me of a retreat I attended once that was led by Gerry Riskin. Gerry began by asking the assembled group what would have to happen that day for everyone to leave thinking it had been a great day...

Excellent Article: "Surviving In The Current Cascade Of Economic Disaster"

Posted on February 11, 2009
I can't get enough of what Bruce Marcus writes. Anyone who lives by the philosophy that "a mind at rest tends to remain at rest, a mind in motion tends to remain in motion" is somebody whose views merit careful consideration. Bruce writes The Marcus Letter...

What Ever Happened To Standing Behind Your Work?

Posted on February 09, 2009
Time was, people produced things and stood behind them. Slogans like "our name is your product" and similar sentiments were expressed as a means of assuring quality. Those days are over. But now it looks like the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction...

An Ode To My Partners: We Is More Than Me

Posted on February 07, 2009
From time to time, you've heard me mention my Valorem partners. I have tried (unsuccessfully, I realize) to keep this blog from being too Valorem-centric. But as my partners and our spouses gather tonight to celebrate our first anniversary, I want to use this space to share with them some things I've learned during our year together...

Example of Great Client Service

Posted on February 06, 2009
Last evening, Valorem had an open house to celebrate our first anniversary. I had opposed the idea of the party and was persuaded by my partners that it was the right thing to do. Boy, were they right. We had a grand time and visited with many of the people who helped in our evolution...

Behind the Curtain

Posted on February 05, 2009
In my inaugural glog post (glog is my definition of guest blog post, I alluded to the issue of diversity and suggested that, in addition to driving change related to alternative fees, in-house counsel had the power (or at least some power) to drive change in this regard as well...

On The Importance Of Writing Well

Posted on February 04, 2009
More litigation results from bad drafting that one can possibly imagine. Excellent writing is a critical component of excellent client service. My friends at What About Clients have two terrific posts on good writing. The first reminds us that writing well is hard work...

Optics Count

Posted on February 04, 2009
My first memory of the importance of optics in law was the time I was standing with an in-house lawyer for a large waste company outside a waste transfer station in Brooklyn, New York. We were going to be meeting with a senior partner from a large New York firm...

The Harmony of Alternative Fees

Posted on February 02, 2009
I heard a story last week to the effect that many larger firms are offering fixed fee arrangements in response to RFPs issued by prospective clients. Just a few days before, I had been talking to some lawyers at a large firm who were investigating the possibility of their firm quoting more alternative fees to their clients...

Bad News? Don't Ignore the Gorilla.

Posted on February 02, 2009
You can't. But it's amazing how people keep trying to ignore that old gorilla. As I've mentioned, I was listening to a panel of General Counsel share some stories last week. This story was told by one of them. The took a case to trial...

GCs Speak: Will You Hear Them?

Posted on January 31, 2009
In today's world, there is little doubt that, with very limited exception, the business of law is now a buyer's market. The number of layoffs at large firms, and the demise of several prominent firms seem to confirm this. Certainly the anecdotes of revenue declines in 2009 do as well...

Take the Plunge II--It's about time

Posted on January 30, 2009
Well, to be precise, it’s not about time. That’s why it’s time to take the plunge. There are some lawyers out there—you know who you are—sitting in your large comfortable offices wondering what will happen to your firms as this economic cataclysm continues...

Wheat and Chaff: Juries and Litigation

Posted on January 27, 2009
Let me tell you a short story. A senior in-house lawyer is meeting with the CEO to talk about a problem the in-house lawyer had been asked to solve. The in-house lawyer describes how his efforts at negotiation had failed, so he had taken steps to find a random person off the street so that person could resolve the problem for the in-house lawyer...

Trusted Advisor's Insights On Transparency And Selling

Posted on January 27, 2009
Mark Slatin has a most interesting post on Trusted Advisor. In Transparency and Selling, he writes: Yet, we’re trained to go in come back with information that will close the sale. Hunt it, kill it and bring it back to eat. • What if, instead of dancing around an answer we don’t know, we just admit we don’t know? • What if, instead of promising something we probably can’t deliver, we admit that and then tell them what we can do? • What if, instead of offering “teaser” pricing and then covertly getting it on the back end, we share our cost structure? These examples are counter-intuitive--downright treasonous in some circles...

"You Are Too Efficient. You're Fired."

Posted on January 27, 2009
Fred Bartlit tells a story in a Legal On Ramp post that bears publicizing: Last night a young lawyer from a top school told me about one of his best friend's experience in a large Chicago firm (Now - this IS hearsay because it is second hand, but I know the source well and believe the story) His friend has always had top reviews...

Take The Plunge!

Posted on January 26, 2009
For quite a while now, Pat Lamb, my partner in Valorem Law Group, has encouraged me to write a “guest blog” entry (we affectionately call it a “glog”) on his blog. Never one to shy away from either a platform or a new adventure, I told him I would definitely do so...

She's coming soon!!!!

Posted on January 23, 2009
My partner, Nicole Auerbach, has finally agreed to be a regular guest blogger on In Search of Perfect Client Service. If you like some of the material I post, I guarantee you will love Nicole's offerings. She is much smarter than I am, funnier and definitely a better writer...

Informative Survey: How Clients Buy

Posted on January 23, 2009
RainToday.com has published a new report, How Clients Buy: 2009 Benchmark Report on Professional Services Marketing & Selling from the Client Perspective. The report, which runs 57 pages and provides data from more than 200 buyers of accounting, financial, legal consulting and other services, costs $345...

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