According to research from the BTI Consulting Group, the firms that can boast the strongest client relationships also enjoy 19.5 per cent higher rates and 35.6 per cent greater revenue than their competitors. By putting the client at the heart of the firm's everyday activities through the implementation of robust client management process, firms can ensure they deliver high-quality, tailored services, and build the kind of client relationships that will lead to repeat business, referrals, and enhanced reputations. Managing Partner's report, The Client Management Toolkit for Law Firms, looks at four core areas of client management: Client strategy; business development; fees; and client relationships. It considers how firms can: Reach out to potential clients (positioning and targeting, establishing an online presence); Win more pitches; 'Institutionalise' new clients; Engage with clients through the implementation of a client listening programme; Collaborate better to solve clients' complex, multi-jurisdictional problems; Design and negotiate fee arrangements that will provide a win-win for firm and client; and Avoid anti-corruption and compliance issues as they relate to the firm-client relationship. This report includes expert contributions from leading lawyers and law firm consultants, including: Andrew Hedley, director, Hedley Consulting Derek Klyhn, founding partner, Moller PSF Group David H. Freeman, CEO, David Freeman Consulting Group Clare Adshead-Grant, founding partner, Calista Ben Rigby, editor, CDR Sally Dyson, founder and director, Firm Sense Limited Tracey Calvert, owner and director, Oakalls Consultancy Limited Steven A. Lauer, principal, Lauer & Associates Barbara J. Boake, partner, McCarthy Tetrault Rick A. Kathuria, national director, project management office and legal logistics, Gowlings Susan Hackett, CEO and CLO, Legal Executive Leadership Andrew Oldland QC, head of the Public Law and Regulatory Team, Michelmores
Chapter 1: Client strategy development
Chapter 2: Segmenting services:
Ensure your firm's services target client needs
Chapter 3: Strategic stages:
An eight-stage integrated approach to business development
Chapter 4: Finding
niches and developing your strategy
Chapter 5: The shortcut version: The
mini-pitch and toolkit
Chapter 6: Relationship secrets: How to
institutionalise new clients in 100 days
Chapter 7: Designing an
objective-orientated fee arrangement
Chapter 8: Linking project management to
pricing strategy
Chapter 9: Developing a strategy for better budgeting and
negotiating
Chapter 10: All ears: Launch a firm-wide client listening
programme
Chapter 11: Ensuring that feedback is useful, user-friendly, and
used
Chapter 12: Growth and development of the firm's online legal services
Chapter 13: Client services: The in-house perspective on collaboration in law
firm
Chapter 14: Conflicts of interest
Chapter 15: Cocktail of problems: The
conflict between anti-bribery compliance and client service
ANDREW HEDLEY Helps law firm leaders strategise, develop strong brands, forge robust client relationships, and design compelling propositions. Founder, Hedley Consulting. Author of The Law Firm Merger: A Leader's Guide to Strategy & Realisation (Ark Group, 2014), Developing Strategic Client Relationships (Ark Group, 2008), and Client Strategy in a Changing Legal Market (Ark Group, 2011). DEREK KLYHN Founding partner of Moller PSF Group Cambridge and consultant to professional service firm leaders and their teams. Particular focus on business development, strategy, and profitability. Chartered accountant, and MBA with distinction from London Business School. He can be reached at derek.klyhn@mollerpsfgcambridge.com. DAVID H FREEMAN Former lawyer and now CEO of the David Freeman Consulting Group. Has helped thousands of managing partners, group and department leaders, partners, counsel, and associates become better leaders and rainmakers in hundreds of law firms worldwide. David can be reached via email at the consulting group. CLARE ADSHEAD-GRANT Clare is a founding partner of Calista. As a marketing professional, she has over 20 years' experience of working with service based businesses providing the full range of marketing and business development support. Her areas of expertise are in strategic planning and shaping business development and marketing programmes to deliver against clients' objectives. BEN RIGBY Editor, CDR (Commercial Disputes Resolution). Former editor of Costs Lawyer, and former acting features editor of the Solicitors' Journal. Non-practising solicitor, and has worked at the Law Society of England & Wales and the Ministry of Defence. SALLY DYSON Sally Dyson is the founder and director of Firm Sense Limited, a consultancy specialising in client relationship management advice for law firms. ROB LEES Rob Lees is a consultant to professional service firm leaders worldwide and was a founding partner and a director of Moller PSF Group Cambridge. TRACEY CALVERT Tracey Calvert is a lawyer who has worked in the law since 1985. She initially worked in a niche shipping law practice in the City of London, specialising in non-contentious work, and was then employed by a local authority in Worcestershire before joining the Law Society in 1997. STEVEN A. LAUER Steven A. Lauer is principal of Lauer & Associates and consults with law departments and law firms on the value of legal services. BARBARA J. BOAKE Partner, McCarthy Tetrault RICK A. KATHURIA National director, projectmanagement office and legal logistics, Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP TIM NIGHTINGALE Founder, Nisus Consulting Limited GRAHAM ARCHBOLD Research director, Nisus Consulting Limited STEPHANIE KIMBRO Member of Burton Law LLC, a virtual law firm offering online unbundled and traditional full service representation in North Carolina, Ohio, and the District of Columbia. Co-founder of Virtual Law Office Technology, LLC (VLOTech), which was acquired by Total Attorneys in the fall of 2009. Member of the ABA Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services, Secretary of the ABA Law Practice Management Division, and Chair of the ABA LPM's Ethics and Professional Responsibility Committee. Adjunct professor at several law schools and is currently developing two mobile games for legal services, including one related to foreclosure for Illinois Legal Aid Online. SUSAN HACKETT CEO and CLO, Legal Executive Leadership, LLC
