The Future for Law Firms is Client-Centered

• Author: By Jack Newton
• Pages: 31-31

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www.clio.com

The Future for Law Firms is Client-Centered

By Jack Newton

Jack Newton is the founder of Clio and a pioneer of cloud-based practice management.

Jack has spearheaded efforts to educate the legal community on the security, ethics, and

privacy issues surrounding cloud computing, and is a nationally recognized writer and

speaker on the state of the legal industry. Jack is the author of “The Client-Centered Law

Firm,” the essential book for law f‌i rms looking to succeed in the experience-driven age, now

available at clientcenteredlawf‌i rm.com.

The practice of law is one

of the oldest , most respected

professions in modern soci-

ety, but this doesn’t give legal

professionals license t o run

their f‌i rms based on historical

convention .

When the research s hows

that some crucial e lements to

the practice of law are bro -

ken, specif‌i cally in the realm

of client service, this should

be a rallying call to f‌i x them.

As business pra ctices and

technologies evolve, leg al pro-

fessionals should t hink hard

about how to improve— both

to benef‌i t themselves , and

their clients.

According to the most

recent Legal Trends Report,

60% of law f‌i rms don’t

respond to email inq uiries

from prospective client s,

and 27% are unreachable by

phone. This data is based on

1,000 emails and 500 phone

calls to a rando m selec-

tion of US law f‌i rms across

f‌i ve different pract ice areas.

Of the f‌i rms contact ed, the

vast majorit y were unable

to provide some of the most

important in formation that a

typical client loo ks for—suc h

as whether the f‌i rm could

help with a par ticular type of

case, an indication of rates

or overall cost, or wh at next

steps would be if the clie nt

were to pursue their ca se.

Success in the market fo r

legal services is wholly depen-

dent on meeting t he needs

of clients, and clie nts have

more freedom now than ever

to choose who they work

with, who they hire, a nd who

they won’t hire. This is a real-

ity that is increa singly shaped

by publicly accessible online

reviews.

As consumer expec tations

shift alongsid e the rise of

modern cloud techn ologies,

clients have suffered patiently

as law f‌i rms strugg le to adapt

to new, more eff‌i cient ways of

running a business.

Clients k now a bette r expe-

rience is possible, and they

expect it every where. They

use Google, inst ant messaging

apps, and online credit card

payments every d ay, which

means they notice whe n a law

f‌i rm hasn’t bothered to adopt

these technologie s. People

used to be willing to play

phone tag, but now —with

options like texting and online

scheduling tools —clients are

more discerning about su ch

inconveniences.

The myriad of tiny inter-

actions that ha ppen before,

during, and af ter a consumer

buys a product might se em

inconsequential individually,

but collectively they c an make

or break a business . This is

true whether your org aniza-

tion sells a tangib le product

or provides a service.

When I say that the fu ture

for law f‌i rms is client-cen -

tered, I say this bec ause it’s

the only way that f‌i rms will

survive. Through the market

of natural selec tion, f‌i rms that

evolve in a way that meets cli -

ent needs are the one s that

will earn bette r reviews,

more referrals, a nd more

returning clients. T his doesn’t

need to come at the exp ense

of the f‌i rm itself —far from it.

Client-centered f‌i rms know

that providing good client

experiences and ru nning an

eff‌i cient, prof‌i t able law f‌i rm

aren’t opposing ideas. Wit h

the right approach , they drive

each other.

These are the trends t hat

we’re seeing in the legal indus-

try, and across all professional

services, and I w ant to ensure

lawyers have the tools and

knowledge they need to suc-

ceed in their evolution. Th at’s

why I’ve written The Client-

Centered Law Firm, which is

both a rallying c all for a tec-

tonic shift in the legal industr y

and a handbook for be com-

ing a client-cente red law f‌i rm.

Divided into three pa rts, cov-

ering the what , why, and how

of running a client- centered

practice, it fe atures numerous

examples from for ward-think-

ing legal professionals who

are already puttin g client-cen-

tered practices in to action.

The opportunit y for law

f‌i rms today is tremendou s.

Learn more about how to

create a more client- centered

law f‌i rm by visiting clientcen-

teredlawf‌i rm.com.