Legal Research

Why Do We Care What Everyone Else Is Doing?

By Mark Hunter

So, what are the other firms doing? 

How many times have your heard that? It seems in this industry we are only concerned with what everyone else is doing ? looking back rather than ahead.

Let?s look at an example that was shared with me recently. In a meeting discussing an important, and potentially problematic client issue, it became apparent that the lawyers in the meeting were focused solely on what other firms were doing to deal with the same issue. 

On the plus side, the practice group understood that being proactive and providing solutions is exactly the type of service clients are looking for from a firm.

However, rather than quickly moving forward with a solution that fit the client?s needs, a number of partners wanted to know what other firms were doing and if is was necessary to proceed at all. Isn?t that counter-intuitive? If clients want valuable advice from their law firm, why should we care what other firms are doing? 

If you have an opportunity to strengthen the relationship with your clients, take advantage of that and don?t worry so much about what the others are doing.

Why not take a chance and look at other industries that are providing exceptional service to their clients? 

Part of the new normal in the legal industry is clients wanting more for less. This is one of the reasons we are seeing requests for annual summaries of non-billable value. 

So why are we still asking what the other law firms are doing?

Clients are demanding a lot and we need to come up with ways of providing services that are better than the next guy. Be confident in your decisions. Communicate and listen to your clients. Ultimately, your success is measured in the eyes of your client, not the minds of your competitors. 

Full post as published by Slaw.ca on November 18, 2010 (boomark / email).