One of our favorite clients has shared their internal service catch-phrase goal to "make our lives easier." At Bleeke, Dillon, Crandall, we strive to make the lives of our clients easier by providing extraordinary service.
We understand that our clients have far more cases to manage than just the cases we are handling in Indiana. We also understand that our clients have reports that must be provided to evaluate risk and make decisions, and that the reports must be done in a timely manner (not when it is convenient for the lawyers to get around to it). Finally, we understand that doctors and nurses or clients going through adoptions or divorces, have many anxieties -- our job is to provide sound, confident and realistic advice that provides peace of mind to our clients.
Our hope is that by truly listening to our client's needs, and then doing everything we can do to meet those needs, we can do our part to "make our clients' lives easier" and better.
Monday, January 19, 2015
Friday, December 19, 2014
What Do Clients Want?
What does the client want from the attorney? For those outside of the legal profession, the answer seems easy: The client wants to win the case. Those of us on the inside know that, at least for civil defense practitioners, the answer is more complicated. While we often have long-term relationships with clients that permit us to assist in risk management and lawsuit prevention, we are more commonly called upon to provide a legal defense after the facts are set. Unlike plaintiff attorneys who have the option of screening their cases for "winnability," civil defense attorneys are assigned the clear winners, the obvious losers, and---most frequently---cases that could go either way, depending on how certain facts and issues are developed.
That is particularly true where a liability insurance carrier is primarily responsible for funding the defense. For obvious business reasons, defense attorneys strive to develop long-term relationships with insurance carriers. Such a relationship would obviously be thwarted if an attorney rejected a case assignment from an insurer because the attorney concluded that the case was a loser!
In my experience, communication is key. Timeliness of response is the most important component of communication Compliance with reporting deadlines is next most important. Giving the client a meaningful, substantive case assessment---one that the attorney can stick to barring genuinely unforeseen developments---is third. Keeping the client and/or client representative generally informed of day-to-day case progress is fourth.
We often focus on winning or losing as the measure of the client's expectations. However, where we keep our clients adequately informed, we can help them make decisions which minimize a true "loss." We cannot win them all, but in the exercise of good communication skills, we can successfully partner with our clients to satisfy their expectations.
That is particularly true where a liability insurance carrier is primarily responsible for funding the defense. For obvious business reasons, defense attorneys strive to develop long-term relationships with insurance carriers. Such a relationship would obviously be thwarted if an attorney rejected a case assignment from an insurer because the attorney concluded that the case was a loser!
In my experience, communication is key. Timeliness of response is the most important component of communication Compliance with reporting deadlines is next most important. Giving the client a meaningful, substantive case assessment---one that the attorney can stick to barring genuinely unforeseen developments---is third. Keeping the client and/or client representative generally informed of day-to-day case progress is fourth.
We often focus on winning or losing as the measure of the client's expectations. However, where we keep our clients adequately informed, we can help them make decisions which minimize a true "loss." We cannot win them all, but in the exercise of good communication skills, we can successfully partner with our clients to satisfy their expectations.
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