Encourage client service teams at your primary law firms

Your key law firms will serve you better if they periodically gather all the lawyers and support staff in the firm that work on your business and encourage the group to share industry knowledge and client insights. An example of such a team, described in InsideCounsel, Sept. 2006 at 46, is at Thomson Hine, where its team that works on Parker Hannifin matters meets at least quarterly. The team discusses “everything from personnel changes in the client’s law department to market conditions.”

An astute law department would volunteer to send someone to attend those meetings, or parts of them. What I also commend about the practice is that Thompson Hine does not bill Parker Hannifin for the time team members spend in meetings (or preparing for them, I assume).

I commend the practice, client-service teams, along the lines of a relationship partner (See my posts of Dec. 3, 2005 on the vitality of that position; and Oct. 8, 2005 on passing the baton.). Both strengthen the relationship and its effectiveness.