Law Firm Client Relationships

Information governance and the protection of corporate data are top concerns for law firms. To ensure standards are met, some clients are now tying payment to compliance with Outside Counsel Guidelines (OCG). OCG have moved from guidelines to actual contracts that provide for indemnification of the client for cyber breach and violation of privacy laws.

It is vital to have effective marketing and communications, but if legal and business professionals don't listen for — and hear — the Voice of the Client, we risk missing the mark in our strategy, messaging and positioning.

Finally, it has happened. You have reached the stage in your career that others want to hear from you and learn what you know in your area of expertise. You have been invited to speak at a conference. What now?

While we can't always create the need; we can work to identfy a need. Clients buy because they have a need or want, and successful salespeople do their homework to uncover this intelligence.

If you have not already encouraged your partners to advise their clients of the need to develop a crisis communication plan in advance, and provided some guidance on best practices, do so immediately. As a complement to a well-developed plan, here are two mnemonic approaches to managing communications in a crisis: the three Rs and the three Fs.

Law Firms Partner With the Big Four to Serve Their Clients, But the Accountants Pose an Existential Threat. What Will Happen If — or When — They Turn Competitive?

For law firm leaders, rank-and-file partners and everyone else in the law firm ecosystem, the Big Four shouldn't be a laughing matter. They are serious about selling legal services, and clients are listening.

Marketing the Law Firm recently interviewed Jennifer Papantonio, Chief Client Service Officer of Peckar & Abramson about her significant role, which includes the successes she and the firm have achieved in recent years, how she works collaboratively with firm leadership to create innovative solutions, and her recommendations to law firms which may be considering engaging a Chief Client Officer.

While reputation goes a long way in attracting new clients, having a solid content strategy is a critical component of the legal sales cycle at all turns, including retaining the clients you have.