I’ve mentioned my friend Dan Hull any number of times in my posts. He is thoughtful, an extraordinary writer and someone who shares my passion for providing great service to our clients. He sees things through the same client service prism I do. I don’t always agree with him, but when I don’t, I devote a lot of time to thinking about why. I don’t want to miss an insight he has that I might have missed, leading to bad judgment in staking out a position.
Dan’s What About Clients? blog contains a new post, The Scramble for Value, that asks whether the focus on new business models, work-life balance and other issues has caused us to lose sight of the importance of client service. Dan frames the question much better than I ever could:
Lawyers are not special. We are servants, if often well-paid ones. Billing models, partnership structures, staffing alternatives, the care and feeding of associates, firm culture, collegiality–they mean nothing unless designed and maintained for clients’ day-to-day needs. We are not royalty. We serve. We anticipate, prevent and solve client problems. Nothing more. Can we focus more on the real deal: the Art of the Client. What else is there?
In this circumstance, I agree and disagree. We are, as a profession, spending a lot of time talking about what "this" means for lawyers and how firms must alter their business models to survive, and so forth. Not client centric at all, and regrettably so. But at the same time, there is no discounting the fact that, in the main, service flows from the business model, or the business model acts as a levy and interferes with client service. Not 100% of the time. Not every lawyer. Not every firm. There are exceptions. Notably, Dan’s firm seems very much the exception, focusing on long term relationships and ensuring that bills reflect value. But if we focus on the exceptions and lose sight of the norm, we miss too much. Having seen both the hourly rate business model and the alternative fee model up close and personal, I am 100% convinced that the latter model provides more for our customers. Not 100%, every firm every time, but much more so than the hourly rate model. I’ve written about the reasons at length and won’t run on here. Time will tell, but in the meantime, as Dan suggests, let’s keep our eye where it belongs: on our customers.