Strengthening The Client-Law Firm Relationship

A report from the Bernero & Press firm on the recent Chicago P3 conference (that’s pricing, project management, and process improvement), about how to deepen and strengthen the relationship between law firm and client. Recapping some conference presentations, Aric Press finds an especially promising idea from a group called the True Value Partnering Institute, which has developed a list of five attributes of lawyer-client value. One noteworthy strategy involved “sharing,” which in this context included the law firm sharing – with the client – its best practices, including billing, budgeting, and project management techniques. It’s a practice often undervalued or regarded skeptically, because for the law firm it might mean giving up some advantage it holds over its client, but it could more than make up for that by advancing trust. Perhaps the most elegant idea was a method for law firms to find out what the client is thinking about the firm’s performance: Ask them.