Thoughts on when a new general counsel should survey clients for satisfaction

When a new general counsel takes over, an argument for a formal assessment of client satisfaction within a few months is that those scores establish a baseline of satisfaction. If the general counsel intends to try to improve client satisfaction, that baseline will enable the general counsel to show better scores on the next client survey. The early survey will also help the new general counsel pinpoint the biggest problem areas.

A counterargument will be that whatever happened on the predecessor’s watch is not now relevant. The new general counsel should allow some time for her to put her stamp on the department and its services to clients. Then conduct a survey and find out if where there’s room for improvement. A smaller concern is that surveys can irritate clients, so the newcomer should start out without that mark immediately against her.