With clients' loyalty to legal service providers diminishing, lawyers say firms should do more to promote the benefits of more in-depth relationships between clients and their advisers
As clients display a greater tendency to shop around for legal
services, it is argued that lawyers need to make greater efforts to
communicate the value of the `trusted adviser´ relationship
as this benefits both the law firm and the client. As a
consequence, lawyers argue, potential problems are more likely to
be anticipated.
A number of recent Iberian legal market studies have emphasised the
importance of trust in a lawyer-client relationship. Iberian
Lawyer's Generation 3.0 research – which sought to
identify the characteristics clients look for in the lawyers of the
future – revealed that key to the success of the next
generation of lawyers will be the ability to create close, personal
client relationships based on trust.
Other conclusions were that lawyers will have to have
"stronger commercial empathy" with their clients in the
future.
Indeed, in a 2015 survey of in-house lawyers in Spain and Portugal,
61 per cent said one of the biggest mistakes law firms made when
pitching for work was that "they did not demonstrate an
understanding of our business".
Anecdotal evidence suggests that despite law firms in Iberia
reporting higher rates of growth, lawyers are only now starting to
come to terms with the damage caused to the lawyer-client
relationship during the crisis years.
One member of Iberian Lawyer's In-House Club, who prefers to
remain anonymous, says: "Since the start of the financial
crisis, I have had a daily battle over fees with the very lawyers I
respect and rely on the most – I think that we all have new
scars to show for this." It is in this context that some
lawyers argue that more needs to be done to sell the benefits of
the 'trusted adviser' to clients.
"The term trusted adviser is commonly used to describe
professionals that provide an integral consultancy service to
clients," says Juan Antonio Ruiz, litigation partner at
Cuatrecasas, Gonçalves Pereira in Barcelona. "Most
clients value and understand the benefits of this type of service
– this is because it is a win-win deal that increases value
for both parties."
Ruiz argues that being a trusted adviser makes communication
between a law firm and its client more effective. He adds that this
enables information to "flow properly and results in a broader
understanding of problems and weaknesses."
'Communication is paramount'
Yet despite claims that clients understand the value of a trusted
adviser, some lawyers argue that law firms need to do more to
promote the idea to clients. Fernando Navarro, partner and co-head
of banking and international finance at Ashurst Spain, says law
firms could make a greater effort to communicate the value of the
trusted adviser relationship. "One of the pillars of any law
firm should be getting to know its clients better, and to learn
more about the businesses they are engaged in," he says.
"Communicating this should be paramount for law
firms."
Navarro argues that lawyers that embrace the role of trusted
adviser will have a competitive advantage. He continues:
"Lawyers must be prepared to adapt to the trusted adviser role
because clients will be looking for this – and this will set
a lawyer apart from the rest."
However, Carlos de Cárdenas, partner at Uría
Menéndez, believes that rather than communicating the value
of the trusted adviser relationship, lawyers have to earn
clients' trust. He adds: "You have to build trust by being
credible, reliable and reaching a certain intimacy level with the
client without losing your own independence – you must truly
care." De Cárdenas says lawyers should aspire to reach
the status of trusted adviser to clients. "Lawyers must evolve
the relationship to that higher level where it goes from being
based on service to being based on trust," he continues. De
Cárdenas believes the relationship requires that "both
parties, client and lawyer, invest time and resources in it –
it takes time to earn trust".
PLMJ partner Thomas Pessanha says a trusted adviser relationship
can have many different meanings. He adds that it could be argued
that a trusted adviser is technically strong but also with an
outstanding ability to use communication skills, business acumen
and strategic thinking. Pessanha continues: "One can identify
a lawyer as a trusted adviser when he or she is repeatedly asked to
give advice beyond his or her area of expertise."
Mutual trust
However, there is a widely held view that more clients are
shopping around for legal services before making a decision on
which firm they will use. Ruiz says: "The legal sector is
going through some changes, but this does not mean that the trusted
adviser relationship is absolutely affected by this as the
relationship is not defined in monetary terms." He adds that
such relationships involve "mutual trust and
dependability". He continues: "In fact, lawyers have to
work with great professional diligence and competence, regardless
of the fees charged."
It is crucial that lawyers adapt to this new environment, according
to Ruiz. "Law firms must find new forms of advice to
complement their main activities and can do so by educating their
lawyers, focusing on knowledge and inter-personal skills," he
argues. "This makes the client's confidence grow, leading
to a 'trusted adviser' relationship."
"Trust was one of the first casualties of the downturn,"
one Madrid managing partner told Iberian Lawyer. "And it is
too soon to say how that can be rebuilt".
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