In September we wrote a post encouraging everyone to conduct a Client Service Report Card by stepping back from key relationships to assess the health and status from the client’s perspective. As covered in that post, the first step should be a self-assessment, candidly grading the firm’s strength in areas of importance such as: Understanding […]
September often marks the time for new beginnings: a change in the weather, back to school, new routines and football. With my kids starting a new school year, the conversation in our home has turned to homework, new teachers, expectations and goals. The discussions have reminded me of our work with current and new clients, […]
Every year I play the same game with my cable company. On my renewal anniversary, they take away the discounts and give me the double whammy of a service rate increase. I then spend the next 30 minutes to an hour on the phone finding the right person in “customer retention,” which is really just […]
As we are about to embark on Thanksgiving and the “season of giving,” we wanted to share a tribute to gratitude and a gift. For those that know me well, it is no secret that I love Thanksgiving. It used to be because we get to slow down and truly enjoy being together, but even […]
Last week, I shared five tips to come out of a recent client panel. As I said in the previous post, most client panels cover well-worn client service topics. But there’s a reason the same topics get discussed: In-house lawyers continue to seek outside counsel who don’t just provide the necessary work but who proactively […]
As some of you know, my family has undertaken a fairly extensive home construction project that involves digging out a basement and adding 1,400 square feet of livable space. The selection process for choosing our architect, builder and finishing crew reminded me of how in-house counsel talk about their selection of outside counsel. We asked […]
Adaptability. In every conversation I have with in-house counsel and the lawyers who support and serve them, the single most important trait clients value and lawyers pride themselves on is adaptability. Often other words are used to describe this highly valued trait, but it really comes down to adaptability as the key to successful relationships. […]
Wicker Park Group will periodically revisit some of our most popular blog posts. This post, one of the most read in the first half of 2017, was originally posted in January. Howard Schultz recently announced he is stepping down from his role as CEO and Chair of Starbucks to focus on the company’s plans to build high-end […]
An IT lawyer recently made a striking observation to me. He works in the flat-screen TV industry and noted that a flat-screen TV from twenty years ago could cost $20,000 or more and lacked much of today’s technology. But every year, the technology has gotten better as the cost has declined. You can now buy […]
Howard Schultz recently announced he is stepping down from his role as CEO and Chair of Starbucks to focus on the company’s plans to build high-end coffee shops that charge as much as $12 per cup of coffee. That makes me think of the top end of the lawyer’s hourly billable rate. The $2,000 hour […]
In the past month, I have moderated multiple in-house counsel panels (both in public forums and at private law firm retreats), interviewed more than a dozen in-house counsel and led client service workshops at law firms. In every instance, I was struck by the widening gap between what clients want from their outside counsel and […]
The massive uptick in how corporate legal departments and law firms are collecting data to make smarter decisions in any number of areas may very well disrupt the legal industry. But Big Data is not a replacement for Little Data: the voice of the individual client. From IBM’s ROSS and Watson to Mitratech’s March acquisition […]
In my career, I have had the opportunity to be general counsel for a bank holding company, a large state medical center and a state bar association. Each entity was different in terms of its leadership and operating procedures. However, there were certain common principles that guided outside counsel selection. Keep these mandates in mind […]
Alternative fee arrangements (AFAs) are often studied, often debated and only sometimes tried. But with clients becoming more sophisticated in their choice of outside counsel and use of fee arrangements, you need to be prepared to answer this question: “Can we use an alternative fee arrangement rather than hourly billing in the matter your firm […]
The following was posted October 26 by Lindsay Griffiths on her blog, Zen and the Art of Legal Networking. Griffiths is the International Lawyers Network’s Director of Global Relationship Management. If you’re a regular reader of Zen, you’ll know that I love in-house counsel panels. During the recent Legal Marketing Association’s Technology Conference, we had one […]
In a recent conversation with a Fortune 500 in-house counsel, I asked how she defines value. She replied, “Value is the most ill-defined concept in the legal industry. What I value is a firm that understands how its work fits into my work life. But when you ask my boss or the CFO, they are […]
Value is very important to clients, but they do not always understand the bigger picture of your value when looking at a bill. Instead of just providing a bill, you can easily offer your clients some perspective that clearly illustrates the value of your legal services. In any transactional work, when the client asks what […]
Value is in the eye of the beholder. In our legal services world, that means it is the client’s perception of value—not the lawyer’s—that matters. We can only demonstrate the value of our legal services if we understand what is important to our clients and what specifically they deem valuable. Wicker Park’s client feedback interviews […]
While there continues to be much debate about the impact of the ACC’s Value Challenge in the U.S. market, there is no doubt that demonstrating value in key client relationships with law firms (and all clients for that matter) is critical. The Association of Corporate Counsel has announced that they are expanding the Value Challenge to Europe and created […]