Clarifying Communication Preferences
Numerous clients have worked with Coker’s firm after a bad experience with another law firm, which he says rarely had anything to do with legal representation.
“[Their] No. 1 complaint is difficulty hearing from their legal team, whether it's not getting a response at all, the response taking days or weeks, [or] not being very responsive to their actual question,” Coker says.
The 14-attorney firm tells potential clients the hours attorneys and paralegals can be reached; several years ago, it implemented a policy to return all nonemergency client communication within 24 hours, and if possible, on the same day.
“There are going to be days when you're in court; you're still expected to respond to your clients,” Coker says. “If you don't know the answer, at least send them an email saying, ‘I am working on this, and I'll get you a response.’”
With employees now able to be reached via phone, text and email 24 hours a day, meeting client communication needs and simultaneously providing a desirable work culture can be challenging.
Strong communication practices can differentiate a law firm, according to Andrew Kryder, founder and managing partner of The Kryder Law Group.
The Midwest-based personal injury firm asks what time and contact method are best during its client onboarding experience — and tells clients when firm members will be available.
“We'll note it in our system,” Kryder says. “We try to set it up in the very first conversation so expectations are universal for us and them.”
Structuring Firm Member Connections
New employees learn about The Kryder Law Group’s communication criteria during its onboarding process; to encourage firm members to continue to follow its guidelines, the firm also discusses best practices for various roles and responsibilities at weekly departmental meetings.
“It’s ensuring when we hire them, they have the communication skills needed to succeed; and just constantly reminding them how important communication with clients is,” Kryder says.
Cordell and Cordell has found clients who are kept informed are more likely to be satisfied — which helps business at the 225-attorney firm thrive, according to Chief Executive Officer Joe Breda.
Newly hired lawyers participate in training that touches on the firm’s 10 commandments of client communication. To update clients during matters, attorneys submit an initial status letter within two business days of retention and provide a litigation roadmap, outlining anticipated timelines, and significant legal issues letter, which summarizes potentially tricky case aspects, within 60 days.
Cordell and Cordell tracks data such as call records and communication deadlines, which are scored and reviewed every month during attorneys’ first year of employment. Their client engagement efforts are reviewed every two months in their second year and factor into pay raises and promotions, Breda says.
If firms allow texting, tech tools may be able to prevent employees from feeling compelled to reply to a flood of messages outside of business hours.
Both attorneys and managers can view results from communication surveys an internal team randomly conducts with clients; if a firm member is having difficulty responding to messages, a manager can intervene and try to figure out if it’s due to workload or another issue.
Surveys the firm conducted have found that overall, more than 94% of clients are satisfied with their experience.
“It's difficult in life to do anything [perfectly],” Breda says. “Attorneys are human; they have kids they have to pick up; family members get ill. We really look for people that have a problem meeting the expectation we set. That’s a coaching opportunity.”
Utilizing Technology to Facilitate Outreach
Replying promptly to client communication may only solve part of the communication puzzle. Frequency can also be a concern — which The Kryder Law Group addresses by using its case management software to schedule regular messages.
The firm organizes cases by progression stage, starting with intake. In the first seven days, clients receive two points of communication and are then contacted once a week. After about a month, they’ll hear from the firm every 30 days or when the case is at a new stage, such as a client’s medical treatment being completed.
“The paralegals, case manager's medical team sets a task,” Kryder says. “You take one of our form letters; it gives you the framework, and you fill in the specifics as it relates to the case.”
Periodic emails or another communication strategy — such as blocking off two afternoons a week to make client calls, a system some Kryder Law Group attorneys have adopted — can help protect firm members’ time from being monopolized by an overwhelming number of well-intentioned questions.
“An attorney's job is to communicate complex legal issues; that's why a client has hired us,” Kryder says. “But there does have to be a boundary set. Part of my job is communicating with you; the other part is legal strategy, and I can't do that if I'm on the phone with you hours a day.”
Encouraging clients to reach out via email — which approximately 48% of law firms use to communicate with clients, according to a report from tech provider
Case Status — might help meter conjecture they’ll receive an immediate reply. Nearly 70% of U.S. consumers expect businesses to respond to texts within an hour, according to a survey conducted by marketing platform provider EZ Texting.
Email can also serve as a written record, which clients can check to confirm they’ve completed case-related instructions, such as sending requested forms.
If firms allow texting, tech tools may be able to prevent employees from feeling compelled to reply to a flood of messages outside of business hours. Clients and firm members at Coker, Robb and Cannon, for instance, can text through the firm’s case management platform app.
“It's typically something along the lines of we're meeting them at the courthouse and checking in because they're running a little late, or they're texting about what we [told] them to bring,” Coker says. “We're not texting directly from individual attorney and paralegal cell phones; we typically don't share that information with clients.”
Helping Clients Control Costs
Family law clients may be hiring a lawyer for the first time, Coker says; to familiarize them with what’s involved, Coker, Robb and Cannon provides written information and discusses communication at initial attorney consultations.
On orientation phone calls, paralegals suggest clients compile non-urgent questions in an email so they can send several in one message, instead of contacting their attorney every time they think of something.
“In a family law situation, most people aren't really financially prepared.” Coker says. “It wasn't an expected expense they had been planning and saving for. If we get four or five separate emails every single day, their case is going to be significantly more expensive.”
The firm bills clients every two weeks.
“With little to no experience having a legal team working for you, being able to see those charges as soon as possible after they hire us is very educational,” Coker says. “They can either say, ‘Wow, I only had an email and a phone call during this billing period’ — or see reaching out every day is going to get really expensive over a three- to six-month divorce.”
30% say [client treatment] influences whether they’ll give a firm future work even more than the legal outcome that’s achieved.
The Kryder Law Group assigns a grade and number to matters; an A-1 case, for example, would be a complicated, possibly highly technical matter involving significant injury or damages.
The system allows the firm to match work assignments to the most appropriate skill set.
“On more complex cases, you want the attorney communicating with the client because these are difficult concepts for anyone to absorb,” Kryder says. “But on a more routine case, the paralegals are capable, and the clients are receptive to that. It also has the derivative side effect of balancing the workload. It does need to be shared; and the right person has to be the vessel for communication.”
Fielding a Different Approach
In today’s competitive market, even with notable demand for the type of services a firm offers, steady business isn’t guaranteed; legal tech company
Big Hand’s research, for instance, found 95% of firms have experienced client attrition.
Recommendations and referrals can steer potential clients in a firm’s direction. How a firm treats clients can, too; 30% say it influences whether they’ll give a firm future work even more than the legal outcome that’s achieved, according to Case Status data.
Unfettered access to attorneys is a key aspect of The Advisory PLLC’s business model; clients might ask the seven-attorney firm, which handles corporate law, litigation, estate planning and other matters, to send an NDA to a potential investor in a different country at 2 a.m. — or call President Jimmy Strong II on a Sunday if inspiration strikes.
They know he’s essentially always available, Strong says, and are respectful of his time.
“It makes people really think, ‘If I need it, I know it's there; but if I don't, or it sounds like he's busy, [we’ll] talk Monday,’” he says.
The firm has found using a mix of pricing methods helps both clients and the firm know what to expect. Strong says he used to view trademark work, for instance, as a flat fee matter but now treats it as a flat fee component of a billable hour engagement.
Once the governing document has been approved, following up with the client, the United States Patent and Trademark Office and other work incurs an hourly charge.
“Clients like alternative fee arrangements, and firms like them,” Strong says. “But they have to turn hourly after the initial scope has been accomplished. It's productive to get the client up to speed and makes the client experience great; but it's not a profitable use of time to do that without a way to get paid.”
