In our focus on Nabarro this month the firm comes in for some criticism at the hands of an important client for its failure to engage, to make the client aware of its strategy, or simply to make the general counsel (GC) feel sufficient love.
While this is just one client and Nabarro could undoubtedly rustle up on the spot a dozen others that have a different take on their client service levels, this prestigious client legal head says: ‘I’ve spoken to other GCs about it and they have similar issues, it’s bewildering.’
Nabarro says it has a sophisticated and established client feedback programme and there can be no doubt that law firms in the UK top 50 got there, to use their own mantra, by ‘putting the client first’. Many with eye-watering marketing budgets to boot.
But one wonders if, amid office openings and restructuring and rising to the pressure to do things differently, law firms are, on occasion, losing sight of the professional service basics.
At one large media company a head of legal recalls: ‘A firm came to us a year after they were appointed to our panel and asked why their billings were down. I said: “This is a market and you actually have to market yourselves!'”
The in-house brigade can be a demanding bunch and, if they want a relationship, it is on both sides to make that happen.
But when a relationship is not going well the signs – a lack of communication and less work, to name but two – don’t usually require psychic powers to interpret.
The in-house brigade can be a demanding bunch, and, if they want a relationship, it is on both sides to make that happen.
Client demands have steadily grown and evolved and of all the things law firms can be, psychic is not one. Research into client attitudes has consistently shown that clients are generally impressed with the technical standards and skill-sets of major UK law firms – it is service delivery and soft-skills that typically let outside counsel down.
Have lawyer pitching skills gotten any more focused at major law firms in a tougher economic climate?
Well, talk to a large room of GCs and the consensus remains that major accountancy firms – while certainly having their weaknesses compared to law firms – are on an entirely different planet when it comes to proactively tracking the business of clients and potential clients and suggesting answers before they even know they have a question.
As yet, there is no substitute for old-fashioned marketing.