Assessing Client Satisfaction
In The Legal Environment

Within the environment of a law firm, client surveys can greatly aid in establishing and maintaining effective client relationships. Attorneys are usually highly trained and experienced in their chosen practice area. Yet this very training and expertise can make it difficult for the professional to view the client relationship in the same way that the client perceives it. As a result, lawyers can be surprised when high levels of quality and professionalism in service delivery are not matched by equally high levels of client satisfaction.

For this reason, a survey process tailored to the firm’s practice can be especially beneficial in obtaining client perceptions and in maintaining satisfaction with respect to such areas as the following:

• Extent to which the lawyer conveyed understanding of the client’s problem.
  
  
• Degree to which the legal assistance provided was responsive to client needs.
  
  
• Extent to which the lawyer made the client aware of the costs and risks associated with a chosen course of action.
  
  
• Degree to which the lawyer was able to explain the rationale for his/her recommendations and help the client make well-informed decisions.
  
  
• Empathy and interpersonal skills of the lawyer.
  
  
• Degree to which the service met client expectations.

In addition to tailoring the survey instrument to the type of practice, several additional issues should be addressed when implementing a customer survey in a law firm:

• Procedures for survey administration should minimize disruption to the ongoing client-professional relationship.
  
  
• Survey analysis and feedback should be handled within the context of professional development, practice development, and service process improvement.
  
  
• Account relationship managers should be involved in the planning and implementation of the survey, as well as in post-survey follow up.

In order to optimize the use of a client survey, a key step is to establish a cross-functional team to assess how the survey is being used and identify ways to make it more useful in service improvement. Specifically, Wolf Management Consultants can help you:

• assess your current client survey process and recommend improvements
  
  
• design or improve survey questionnaires
  
  
• identify satisfaction and repurchase "drivers"
  
  
• assist stakeholders in organizing teams to improve client service