What Clients Want from Law Firms

Executive summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

About the authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv

Chapter 1: What do clients want? Working effectively with the general counsel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
By Ian White, consultant, executive coach, mediator, facilitator, and trainer
Understand the business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Like the business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Independence is key (and becoming more important) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Likeability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Live up to what you say . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Don't get it wrong - but if you do, own up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Listen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Shadow the general counsel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Read about and be interested in business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Giving back and the rise of ESG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Working with the Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Chapter 2: Understanding your client's business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
By Adrienne Gubbay, senior commercial lawyer
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
What does it mean to understand a business? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
How can you leverage your industry knowledge to benefit your in-house customers? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
What steps can you take to deeply understand your in-house customer? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
How does obtaining instructions from an internal legal team differ from receiving instructions from a non-legal customer? . . . . 15
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Chapter 3: How do GCs and law firm lawyers differ? Finding common ground . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
By Terezka Zabka, general counsel, San Diego Padres
Law firm and GC distinct roles and responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Prioritizing billable hours and revenue vs focus on cost savings and efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Expertise and ability to compel vs influence and persuasion at all levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Building a relationship and staying top of mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Chapter 4: Beyond law - business-critical skills to navigate the intersection of law, business, and technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
By Natasha Norton, KorumLegal
No more detached lawyers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
A new definition of success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
The business context - lawyers as business partners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Risk management and mitigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Adaptability and resilience - legal work in an era of rapid change . . . 29
Business- / client-centric thinking and communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Leadership and influence in the business world . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Technological proficiency and legal tech expertise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Ethical responsibility - ethical decision-making in business . . . . . . . . . 33
Sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Leveraging legal expertise in the boardroom - bringing strategic value to corporate leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
The lawyer of the future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Chapter 5: How to stay front of mind - business development and relationship building . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
By Claire Rason, Client Talk
Let's explore what we mean by business development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Super skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
A model to practice - the Lawyer's Coach Business Development Matrix (c) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
In summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Chapter 6: The client view on ESG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
By Jenifer Swallow, strategic advisor and former general counsel
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
The state of play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
The legal profession and ESG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Who is the client? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
What is driving client maturity? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
What clients want on ESG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Chapter 7: What clients look for in panel selection - diversity and culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
By Joanna Day, commercial business leader
The need for diversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Categories of work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Playing to strengths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
The auction process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Being realistic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
A good cultural fit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Chapter 8: Effective panel and relationship management . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
By Joanna Day, commercial business leader
What is a panel? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Panel management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Relationship management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Chapter 9: Fees and billing - a transparent approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
By Joanna Day, commercial business leader
Lack of clarity / failure to scope appropriately . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Help, it's urgent! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Lack of effective relationship management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Billing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Disbursements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Added value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Cost management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Chapter 10: Matter management - collaborative working . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
By Dr Heidi K. Gardner, distinguished fellow, Harvard Law School and CEO, Gardner & Co and Csilla Ilkei, insights director, Gardner and Co.
Taking a step back - how legal needs are shifting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Increasing demands to "move up the value chain" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Necessity of in-house collaboration across four "vectors" . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Implications for external counsel - how firms can respond to stepped-up demands . . . . . . . . . 98
Top ten reasons clients value smarter collaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Proving the point - outcomes of smarter collaboration for law firms and partners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
If it's so in-demand and lucrative, why is it still so hard? Challenges to collaboration in law firms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Exceeding clients' demands - practical, smarter collaboration how-tos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Looking ahead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Chapter 11: Active listening - do you know what your clients are asking for? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
By Claire Rason, Client Talk
The old way of client listening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
What's the new way? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Active listening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
What lessons carry across from active listening into active client listening? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
What is it that clients want? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Tricks of the trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Informal conversations and empathy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Chapter 12: An empathy-driven approach to client listening . . . . . . . . . 125
By Paul Roberts, founder, MyCustomerLens
The purpose of client listening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Traditional client listening lacks empathy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Designing a client program outside-in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Listen differently - adopt an always-on approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Always-on client listening in action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Does AI automation reduce empathy? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Key takeaways . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Chapter 13: The strategic necessity of personalized client relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
By Helen Hamilton-Shaw, member engagement and strategy director, LawNet
A client-centric culture - the foundation of personalized relationship building . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Empathy and understanding - the human element in legal services . . 143
Building trust through transparent communication and efficient processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Leveraging technology to enhance client care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
The future of personalization in the legal landscape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Chapter 14: Building lasting, positive relationships with clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
By Thomas Santram, senior vice president and general counsel, Cineplex
The trusted advisor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Why do general counsel retain external counsel? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
General counsel hire lawyers - not law firms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
How to develop, grow, and maintain a relationship with a general counsel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
You've received your first file - now what? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
What does success look like for general counsel? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Add value to the working relationship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Final thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Chapter 15: Reimagining the law firm-client relationship in an age of AI ubiquity and data-centricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
By Robert Dilworth, managing director and associate general counsel, Bank of America
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Value in tectonic times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Mindset, skills, and formation in a VUCA world . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Demographics and diversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Reimagining the law firm-client relationship in an advanced information economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Hallmarks of value in an age of AI ubiquity and data-centricity . . . . . 180
The role of the corporate law firm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

About Globe Law and Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199