The balance of power between the lawyer and client is shifting with a new breed of tech-savvy, informed, demanding and cost-conscious clients challenging the traditional working practices of legal professionals. A suvey by Lexis Nexis- Bellwether 2015: The Age of the Client, reveals that whilst lawyers are confident about the future in today’s improving economy – with two-thirds anticipate practice growth over the next five years, retaining clients is seen as a challenge by almost six out of 10 lawyers, due to low-cost competitors rapidly entering the legal market and dwindling loyalty. 

Gap in perception

Despite this, the gap in perception of acceptable levels of service between lawyers and clients is enormous: eighty per cent of lawyers believe they are delivering ‘above average’ service, but only 40 per cent  of private clients think they are actually receiving this quality of service.  Lawyers vastly misunderstand clients’ customer service priorities: Providing regular progress reports ranks second on clients’ priorities, but lawyers rate it 10th. Lawyers rate ‘good at listening’ 12th out of 14 priorities, while clients rank it sixth.Lawyers rank ‘demystifying the law’ for clients as a higher priority (fourth) compared to eighth by clients

Among the other findings of the report are:

• Threat of computerisation – Nearly half (48 per cent) of lawyers see increasing client access to the internet and automated legal services as a significant business challenge.
• Rose tinted view of client satisfaction  – Eight out of 10 lawyers believe they are delivering ‘very well’ or quite well on client priorities, but one in three clients feel that the service delivered for their priorities is ‘average’ or ‘below average’.
• Entrepreneurial lawyers view business differently to non-entrepreneurs – 92 per cent  of entrepreneurial independent lawyers say being forward-looking is important. Also, 67 per cent  get a real buzz from practising law versus only 27 per cent of non-entrepreneurs.  

The full report is available here: www.lexisnexis.co.uk/thegloballegalpost