legal sanity

First there was LexThink Chicago’s lawyer forum on creating the optimal professional services firm. Soon after, I posted on nurturing passionate legal consumers in our emerging experience economy. Maybe there’s something in the old lawyer water well. This new Small Firm Business article echo’s the call for lawyers to chart a course to success and satisfaction through improved service delivery. Describing law firms as “customer service organization[s] whose work product happens to be legal documents,” the author boldly states: “I'm here to tell you that creating client satisfaction -- or better yet, joy -- is your job.” To generate the right customer experience, he suggests that firms come up with a “script” and set “protocols” that cover everything from office décor to decorum. While I’m all for fostering joyful clients, I think the author misses the mark by focusing solely on staging the positive consumer experience. Staging is important, but it’s only a part of the process. Relying on staging alone is tantamount to pretending that you care. Firms need to augment their stage directions by encouraging and empowering lawyers to forge human-to-human connections that show our clients that we genuinely care about moving them on to greatness.