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Zoya Ilyenka
1961 Abogados y Economistas, Barcelona
zoya@1961bcn.com

 

Report on a session of the Law Firm Management Committee at the IBA Europe-Caucasus-Asia Forum

Friday 1 November, 2019

 

Moderator

Gerard Tanja  Venturis Consulting, Amsterdam

Panellists

Yordan Naydenov  Boyanov & Co, Sofia

Zoya Ilyenka  1961 Abogados y Economistas, Barcelona

Iryna Nikitina  IOCONS, Kiev

Maria S´la?zak  European Association of Lawyers, Brussels

Itzik Amiel  The Switch, Amsterdam

 

The IBA Europe-Caucasus-Asia (ECA) Forum, presented by the IBA European Regional Forum, was held in Tbilisi, 31 October – 2 November 2019. The Forum annually gathers managing partners, heads of practice, in-house lawyers and other senior practitioners coming from or interested in the ECA region to discuss the cutting-edge issues of the legal market and profession.

One of the Forum’s panel discussions covered several aspects of international clients service. The panellists shared their experiences of what it means to work with globally active clients.

Moderated by Gerard Tanja, this session united speakers from several jurisdictions who shared their thoughts on the importance of analysing all business opportunities and taking advantage of all potential international markets.

Yordan Naydenov commented on the Bulgarian experience of working with global international clients. He explained that the key to work with this profile of clients is to be open minded and ready to learn, absorbing and implementing ideas that take national specifics into account. He also noted the importance of building and maintaining relations with large international and regional firms; retaining the best legal talent; and drawing on the experiences of people who have studied or worked abroad.

Naydenov’s best practices consisted of:

• competing for the legal talent;

• prioritising ethics and morale;

• using regional groups and networks;

• using ‘best friends’ and similar arrangements; and

• maintaining strong ties with clients by learning about and understanding their businesses.

On a similar note, Zoya Ilyenka agreed that international experience is important for understanding foreign clients’ needs. In her opinion, creating an international practice starts with choosing the right person within your firm to be in charge of such a project. This person should speak languages, be open-minded and eager to travel and preferably have an international background or work/study experience. Once you have found this person, they could implement the following techniques for growing international client work:

• creating specific regional desks within the firm, managed by a colleague native to that region;

• participating in global international networks, such as the IBA, or smaller networks that unite firms and professionals similar to your own;

• partnering with colleagues from specific regions by organising common client events or participating in common marketing projects and creating shared opportunities; and

• receiving trainees from foreign jurisdictions.

You yourself might also participate in a professional exchange to a partner firm abroad, much as students do. The general counsels of international firms also represent another important source of international work. But how can you make a general counsel become your client?  Iryna Nikitina has been looking into this issue in the Ukrainian market for more than three years and shared her discoveries.

Nikitina offered seven key areas to consider when thinking about what a general counsel looks for:

• One in seven law firm partners believes that free services are not effective for clients’ attraction, while general counsels expect free initial consultancy during the selection procedure.

• The well-known legislation updates (often labeled as a spam) are highly sought after by national business with international reach and by the local businesses of international companies.

• There is a growing demand for time-effective, peer-to-peer networking and educational activities among the general counsels.

• The best way to show loyalty to your client is to discount your invoices.

• Your clients watch your costs, so you must too.

• The most challenging issue for law firms is to understand the context in which their clients operate. One general counsel stated: ‘law firm lawyers do not understand our business deeply enough and it takes too much time to explain all aspects to them.’

• Another important issue to pay close attention to is that of law drafting and lobbying. In many cases, a law firm could become an effective mediator between major players, to the benefit of the industry.

Maria Slazak continued the topic of general counsel expectations. ‘Today, GCs very often demand to prove that the law firm is active in pro bono work as well as applies principles of corporate social responsibility [CSR] concept,’ she noted. ‘It is connected with companies’ own CSR policy. Due to this fact bigger law firms introduce CSR activities into their portfolio, also as a separate field of advices for clients.’

However, Slazak also emphasised that although general counsels demand evidence of work within CSR and pro bono activities, in the end they choose law firms that represent the best combination of quality in the given area of law and the most reasonable prices.

Slazak believes that there is considerable pressure on price reduction, with the aim of agreeing a cap that in most cases is very disadvantageous for law firms. ‘Some lawyers,’ she said, ‘propose fees even below their costs just to get the work.’

Both Tanja and Amiel agreed that there is pressure to change pricing. According to Tanja, the scenario should change from a ‘more spend/more money’ approach to one of ‘more quality/less spend (predictable pricing vs hourly)’. Equally, Amiel added that this change should be ‘value v price’, that is, knowing and addressing the internal and external needs of clients.

Tanja summarised by stating that client expectations have changed, loyalty has diminished and pressures to change pricing and service delivery have increased. Tanja believes that most firms face the same pitfalls in their intentions to grow practice. He suggested five comment pitfalls:

• a lack of focus (trying to achieve too much, too quickly and with too many clients) and unclear objectives that have not been sense-checked with clients;

• a fading of initial leadership over time, due to the competing priorities of senior management;

• inadequate recognition of efforts made and the lack of a systematic accountability process;

• partners’ failure to invest the required execution time; and

• associates’ failure to get involved and a business development team that is too busy with individual, low-value tasks.

Tanja stated that expertise orientation should move from one focused on law to one that is more focused on business, with greater sector knowledge. On the other hand, Amiel felt that being business orientated is not the same as becoming your client’s business partner. ‘Who said the client wants us as a partner? We cannot force it on the client. We actually are in the position of a trusted adviser transforming the client business. But the decision is fully in the hands of the client,’ Amiel said.

Amiel believes that modern clients are not looking for exceptional customer experiences. Instead, they prefer effortless experiences.

‘To win in the 21st century as a lawyer,’ Amiel said, ‘take lessons from Uber and Amazon: deliver an effortless experience.’ Managing client expectation creates loyal clients. Clients have expectations about outcome and service provision: the better you identify, manage and exceed client expectations, the more satisfied and loyal those clients will be.

Amiel offered five pieces of advice for managing client expectations:

1. communicate well at the intake phase (ie, the beginning of engagement), creating the proper tone and establishing your role as a guide and leader;

2. be aware that ‘identical clients’ do not have identical wants and needs;

3. ask questions and listen to client responses, in the awareness that clients have expectations about substance and outcome but also about the:

– frequency and mode of communication;

– your availability and accessibility; and

– budget/fees.

4. resist interrupting and jumping with your solution;

5. assess and manage client expectations by considering whether:

– the client’s expectations are realistic;

– what the potential pitfalls might be; and

– whether the client’s goals can reasonably be accomplished

– and suggest options and alternatives.

Key lessons from this session

Nikitina: ‘Demands are mounting. Rare firm is able to cover the whole spectrum. As we found, sometime GCs are not clear about their demand and without clarification you just playing “Surprise me!” game. And let’s be honest: secondments, CSR, pro bono, lobbying are good for keeping brand visibility and firm’s reputation. These tools do help to foster your relations with existing clients. But, they do not sell. Period. What does sell then? Expertise does!’

Naydenov: ‘So far, there is nothing that could replace the personal relations with the clients and the colleagues.’

Ilyenka: ‘Take all this information and implement it, but above all, be human! Put a part of your personality and effort in every step you make. Show genuine interest and friendship both to your clients and to your colleagues.’

Amiel: ‘Use the client’s language. To win the only two things you need to know are the external needs and the internal needs – what wakes them up at night? Turn the external needs to tips, insights and advice; turn the internal ones to stories, case studies, facts and figures and research that “proves” them.’

S´la?zak: ‘For development of an international practice, building a network is very important. Be engaged, speak in conferences, publish articles and, of course, listen to your clients.’

Tanja: ‘Complement internal data with client input by implementing a client listening strategy to ensure you stay on the right track. Be data-driven not (just) gut feel driven. Believe in the power of collaboration. Give recognition and hold partners accountable. Manage your client base commercially – review client financial performance regularly.’

 

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