Legal Commentary

What About Clients? Shines Through

By Patrick J. Lamb

From time to time, Dan Hull and his colleagues at WAC? repeat some of Hull McGuire's Rules of Service.  I love this post summarizing Rule No. 9:

Lawyers aren't special. We're in a service business. Get used to it. Rule 9: Be There for Clients 24/7. Snippet:

      Returning telephone calls promptly and keeping your client "informed" is not client service. Color all that barely adequate. Get a new standard.

Succinct and perfectly tuned.

Some days, as I read about another firm announcing salary freezes or layoffs of partners or firings of associates, I wonder whether anyone thinks about Rule No. 9.  It seems that some times we're so busy thinking about "our business" that we forget that "our business" depends on "their business."

So, to paraphrase Dan, these days, good service doesn't even get you in the game.  Reach higher.

Full post as published by In Search of Perfect Client Service on January 16, 2009 (boomark / email).