Something which can annoy clients universally, I find, \u00a0is being passed over to a \u201ccolleague,\u201d whom the client doesn\u2019t know and is almost inevitably junior and doesn\u2019t know the client\u2019s business. There is nothing worse for a client when they have something which is very close to their heart and\/or of a business critical nature, for a partner to say \u201cI am bringing in so- and- so who will deal with this for you\u201d and then they swan off to something else they regard as more important than you. You then get a disjointed service with you the client managing several specialists in the law firm, none of whom hold the whole picture and you then spend time updating each of the specialists and doing the job the lead lawyer should have been doing in the first place.<\/p>\n

In my experience clients will pay for good advice and service, but what they don\u2019t want is disjointed specialist \u00a0or junior input telling them what the law is instead of guiding them to a rounded commercial decision. Worse they don\u2019t want an expensive lawyer who is learning on the job and a partner who doesn\u2019t communicate with their team properly. So the client finds themselves having to explain the commercial sensitivities, explain fine nuances and delicate strategies over and over. The client meanwhile is paying for the legal team to get up to speed and to learn, infuriating.<\/p>\n

I have nothing against junior lawyers, by the way, they are brilliant, keen, energetic and clever and innovative, sometimes, and the leaders of the future. In a properly structured team, which is communicating well, the right work can be delegated to the right level of lawyer and the outcome can be a well produced, efficient job with the costs managed well for the client. Problem is it\u2019s so easy to say and so many lawyers get this balance and judgement wrong.<\/p>\n

If you are offering a partner lead service, make it so. At Hackwood Houston we do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Something which can annoy clients universally, I find, \u00a0is being passed over to a \u201ccolleague,\u201d whom the client doesn\u2019t know and is almost inevitably junior and doesn\u2019t know the client\u2019s business. There is nothing worse for a client when they have something which is very close to their heart and\/or of a business critical nature, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clients","category-reflections"],"yoast_head":"\n