The Lawyer hosted the Marketing Leadership Summit last week and a day of action-packed sessions kicked off with Daisy Williamson (Global Head Of Business Development For Gobal Transactions at Freshfields) and Sally Jenkins (Associate Director of Business Development at Freeths)

Matt Byrne asked the questions and started off by asking if the firms were all that different.  Sally suggested that both firms are their to mitigate risk for their clients and they are essentially both selling a service.  Daisy agreed but did add that there were slightly different pressures and different business contexts at Freshfields.

What does client service excellence look like today and how are expectations evolving?

Sally pointed to the fact that client feedback is so important.  At Freeths, they have removed this from their client relationship partners to a 3rd party for a number of reasons.  The main being that they don't feel that the clients are honest when feeding back to their lawyers.

The client listening piece helped Freeths realise that basic things were going wrong.  Things such as fees being put in place but lawyers going above them and lawyers not responding within 24 hours.  These things could then be easily rectified and made consistent.  It also meant that they now look at matching people with clients.

Daisy agreed but also added that client service really has to be bought in at the top level and if it can be added to things like the partner retreat agenda then it can start to influence and dictate firm-wide strategy.

Are we in a moment of unprecedented change or is it business as usual?

Both agreed that there is a lot of change all at once but this just puts more emphasis for teams to understand what this means for clients and to keep up to date with industry news and knowledge.  Both firms use some key terms that they use internally to service clients for Freeths these are:

Technical 

Commercial

Personable

And for Freshfields:

Collaborative

Commercial

Supportive

Responsive

Both Sally and Daisy pointed to the fact that lawyers have to stand out and really drive the relationship with clients.  Sally put emphasis on ‘niching the niche’ and really being able to show a specialism and differentiation among a sea of lawyers in the market.  Daisy highlighted that there is more ‘transactional drift’ due to less loyalty among clients. 

What drives long-term loyalty, and what causes clients to walk away?

Firms and lawyers have to be there ‘knocking on doors’ and be there when clients want to change.  Where possible, firms also have to look around corners for their clients.  

Key client programs are essential and a good opportunity for BD teams to get involved.  Clients like a firm that has a holistic view and that doesn't always necessarily mean a fee earner.