The Law Management Summit on March 16, 2017 hosted a large number of conferences around litigation and arbitration. The conference “Client Relations: what they expect from a law firm” brought together a panel of 5 speakers around Matthieu Meffre, from Décideurs magazine:
Jacques-Antoine Robert, co-managing partner of the American firm Simmons & Simmons- Marjorie Hello, associate lawyer at the Luxembourg law firm AMMC Law
- Jean-Marie Valentin, managing partner of the Parisian firm SVZ
- Martin Bussy, co-founder of Jarvis Legal
- Xavier Derville, legal director of Zodiac Pool Holding
Added value on the move
Each firm is faced with changes in its added value. The role of the client in particular is increasingly central in the lawyer's work.
It is by improving their productivity to develop their client relationships that lawyers can regain their added value.
The impact of digital on customer relations
Digital transformation refers to the process by which an organization, thanks to digital tools, will adapt to new challenges posed by market changes (customers, competitors, work processes).
Thus, it is by thinking in a digital ecosystem that lawyers can take full advantage of these new tools.
What impacts on the business model of firms?
This placing of the client at the heart of the firm, made possible thanks to digital technology, allows us to think about evolving our business model. Beyond flat-rate pricing, success-based payments, in the form of subscriptions or even American “trust accounts”, are now possible, profitable and adapted to customer demands.
Thus, client demands are evolving significantly to the point of calling into question the traditional economic model of law firms. However, the opportunities far outweigh the threats, when we know that around 80% of legal needs today are not handled by lawyers, but by other actors and above all… not at all!
