Asia-Pacific

Check out this week's top Asia-Pacific news on the Asia Pacific Headline page.

Follow RoF

For all the breaking news, follow RoF on Twitter and Facebook

          
   

Find a Job

With the market picking up, don't miss out on Job Search for all the best vacancies from the World's leading law firms.

Find a Flat

Find your ideal flat (or the perfect flatmate) on the Accomm-
odation Offered and the Accommodation Wanted discussion boards.

NB perfect flatmates are not guaranteed.

Glamour

Glamour
The legendary Glamorous Solicitor showcases the style, the beauty and the sophistication for which the legal profession is so rightly known.
Syndicate  

Europe News

Send Us Your News
Exclusive: Cleary Gottlieb staff told to "superplease" clients
08 March 2013
Rate it
10


A Cleary Gottlieb partner has made plain how he thinks fee-earners should deal with client expectations: raise them.

Stopping short of telling them to grease up and bend over in reception, Michael McDonald has emailed the firm's trainees and associates instructing them how to "superplease" clients. His covering note warns nervous recipients that they need to start superpleasing "internal clients" too, i.e. partners like him:



McDonald's manifesto contains some sensible advice and plenty of harmless blah ("Be a solution finder"), but staff might be advised to ignore some of the other tips. Like the ones requiring them to:

  • give out their personal mobile phone numbers to clients so they can "always reach you"
  • "adjust holiday plans if essential to the client"
  • "be attentive to their personal needs if they are under stress". It is unclear if this extends to a back rub, a dance or dressing them up as a baby and feeding them rusks*.
Other tips are more likely to make clients superfreak out. McDonald apparently expects fee-earners to:

  • "make it personal" on a client's birthday
  • entertain clients "preferably with spouse/partner"
  • regularly call or visit clients "off-deal"
  • send clients "topical press clippings (drawing to their attention legal aspects)". Because who doesn't appreciate getting an annotated sheaf of Estates Gazette articles from the lawyer who gave them one half of a broken heart locket and calls them every week trying to arrange a double date.
Insiders told RollOnFriday they are particularly superpleased with McDonald's suggestion that they should "set realistic deadlines" and then "always exceed them". Here's the full list, to stick on your fridge:



    *But Cleary staff should be aware that as an internal client Michael McDonald expects the same attentive treatment.

    Comments

    Feel free to enter your comments on the news story below, subject to our terms and conditions. Please note that comments are subject to moderation and so will not appear immediately.

    Please keep it nice. Thanks.
    Order By:
    anonymous user
    07/03/2013 23:47
    Rate it
    36
    Report as offensive
    I take it 'superplease' means that one must always cup the balls..
    el tigger
    08/03/2013 00:34
    Rate it
    4
    Report as offensive
    People do half of these, although what on earth does "Documents and reporting promptly after close" mean??


    More importantly: it looks like Cleary use Lotus Notes. HA-HA.
    anonymous user
    08/03/2013 08:16
    Rate it
    24
    Report as offensive
    Most of this is just common sense, but all the personal stuff is worrying. If a service provider always sent me birthday cards I would either think he was nuts, a stalker, or desperate for my business. Or all three.

    This whole 'make it personal' ethos is so cheesy and phoney, and it transgresses a line that I think shouldn't be crossed. I don't want someone who provides legal work to me pretending he's my friend or that he's somehow part of my social life.
    anonymous user
    08/03/2013 08:55
    Rate it
    18
    Report as offensive
    No, 'superplease' means you have to swallow every time...
    anonymous user
    08/03/2013 08:56
    Rate it
    9
    Report as offensive
    Can't believe this guy expects the same because he sees himself as an 'internal' client. He must have a massive ego. Must be overcompensating for something...
    anonymous user
    08/03/2013 08:58
    Rate it
    55
    Report as offensive
    what a slimy list. he must be an absolute nightmare to work with.
    Hedgie
    08/03/2013 09:14
    Rate it
    32
    Report as offensive
    Lawyers are so anal. Why don't they give their staff an opportunity to employ their own common sense: they are adults and, supposedly, intelligent. I think they can figure out what doing a good job means.
    anonymous user
    08/03/2013 09:21
    Rate it
    22
    Report as offensive
    "Always make them look good!"

    by being an ugly wingman?
    anonymous user
    08/03/2013 09:31
    Rate it
    14
    Report as offensive
    Anyone who has the time to put together a list like this clearly isn't that busy super pleasing their external clients
    anonymous user
    08/03/2013 09:58
    Rate it
    22
    Report as offensive
    I recall Mr McDonald is trained in both A & O.
    anonymous user
    08/03/2013 10:13
    Rate it
    4
    Report as offensive
    Give Unsolicited good ideas?

    That's a f***ing terrible idea. And, more to the point, conflicts directly with my LaVeyan life philosophy.
    anonymous user
    08/03/2013 10:21
    Rate it
    -36
    Report as offensive
    I actually think this really good advice. At around £600 an hour, actually I want decent customer service (but actually it should be the case no matter how much you pay). I’m a GC (who still reads ROF to be keep in with the kids) and one of the reasons that I am instructing US firms more and more is that the level of client service massively surpasses the UK firms. That customer service also extends to things like delivering on time, being available (and yes this does include weekends and evenings and even sometimes on holiday if it is proportionate) and most importantly accepting responsibility when things don’t go right rather than being defensive. “Making in personal” also does mean that I think of a firm before others – yes the work needs to be good – but most city firms are. None of this means a firm needs to be someone’s gimp or go over the top with false praise (that’s bad also) but ignoring the customer is done at the peril of any business. Hopefully as lawyers we are smart enough to see we are in a very competitive service industry.
    anonymous user
    08/03/2013 10:35
    Rate it
    44
    Report as offensive
    @ anonymous user 08/03/2013 10:21

    Sorry, but you sound like an awful client to work for. You say you don't want gimps, but the truth is you want someone at your beck and call (e.g. I want to call you when you are on holiday - are you a sadist?), not just someone who delivers good work on time (which is a given in any case).

    And the tacit warning about being in a 'competitive' industry seems to indicate you actually quite like the idea of people fighting over you. (Nice...!)

    PS I'm still not sending you a birthday card.
    anonymous user
    08/03/2013 11:35
    Rate it
    16
    Report as offensive
    @ anonymous user 08/03/2013 10:21

    "None of this means a firm needs to be someone’s gimp or go over the top with false praise (that’s bad also) but ignoring the customer is done at the peril of any business."

    Agreed - and what you're advocating is firmly towards the gimpery end of the scale.

    "I’m a GC."

    Congratulations. Your mother must be very proud. Luckily for those in private practice, there are plenty of us in the in-house world who expect good service without us forgetting that paying someone £600/hour (and heh @ that, haven't you heard of fixed fees?) doesn't entitle you to be on call.
    anonymous user
    08/03/2013 12:28
    Rate it
    13
    Report as offensive
    "superplease" the customer always cums first
    anonymous user
    08/03/2013 12:42
    Rate it
    0
    Report as offensive
    Okay, so there are a few crazy ideas on this list - not sure re birthdays etc. But most of these things are what rainmaker partners do anyway ...

    And sorry, many lawyers, even though they are adults, do not just go ahead and build relationships with their clients.

    Wake up kids, you are not in ivory towers any more , sitting around waiting for clients to rush over to you and pay £££s for advice of questionable commercial applicability.

    What is more interesting to me (and why I left law) - if Mr McDonadld's trainees/junior staff actually DO build relationships, cross-sell and actively identify client needs , will this be factored into promotions or will they revert to billable hours anyway?
    anonymous user
    08/03/2013 12:47
    Rate it
    78
    Report as offensive
    I've been 'superpleasing' my internal clients so much today I can barely walk...
    anonymous user
    08/03/2013 15:29
    Rate it
    -21
    Report as offensive
    "Sorry, but you sound like an awful client to work for. You say you don't want gimps, but the truth is you want someone at your beck and call (e.g. I want to call you when you are on holiday - are you a sadist?), not just someone who delivers good work on time (which is a given in any case)."

    If work needs to be done when I am holiday, I get it done (maybe not me, but someone). And if the deadline is when you’re on holiday, then it’s not on time is it. I’m not an awful client to work for. I have the Christmas Cards to prove it. Better get back to beating up the team and getting them to work through the weekend. I think whats-his-name, is getting married or something, have to put a stop to that. Smithers.

    “I’m a GC. Congratulations. Your mother must be very proud.”

    Thanks. Seriously she is. Only getting into Slytherin made her happier. Hope it’s the same for you when you finish your LPC. Boom.



    anonymous user
    08/03/2013 16:09
    Rate it
    3
    Report as offensive
    Someone's been sniffing correction fluid a few too many times.
    anonymous user
    08/03/2013 17:15
    Rate it
    7
    Report as offensive
    My wife gets very upset when I stay up late at night with a box of kleenex, super pleasing my internal clients in the living room
    Lydia
    08/03/2013 18:00
    Rate it
    4
    Report as offensive
    Actually I do a huge number of these.

    Some I am just not prepared to and have more than enough work without ever socialising with clients in any way. if that loses me some who want to be out entertaining then I am very lucky not to be saddled with them as I don't like doing that. There are more than enough who don't want to do that themselves.
    anonymous user
    09/03/2013 01:41
    Rate it
    3
    Report as offensive
    What a truly awful human being.
    anonymous user
    10/03/2013 06:43
    Rate it
    2
    Report as offensive
    On the one hand, this inane, newspeak laced missive encapsulates all I hate about law. Specifically, the expectation that in return for a salary which, whatever the papers think, really ain't all that special, we will prostrate ourselves night and day to kowtow to the whims of the grey faced ingrates with half our education or intellect collectively styling themselves the "clientele". At a human level, it does rankle.

    On the other hand, some of the things that are presented in this article as egregious demands make me goggle at how out of touch or self-entitled - or both - modern lawyers are. Calling clients "off deal" to catch up with them - who, over 3PQE and possessed of any sense, doesn't do this as a matter of course? "giving clients your personal mobile"? Oh God what an imposition! I dont even HAVE a "personal" mobile, my blackberry is all i have. Etc.

    That we have seemingly raised a few generations of city lawyers who seem to find the requirement to develop and nurture a client base appalling - indeed, alien to the concept of being a lawyer, or so it seems - is remarkable and regrettable. Do you really think that in the good old days, back when law was a profession not a business (haw haw), people could sustain careers as solicitors without having an eye on staying close to their clients? Back when the legal limit to the number of partners in a law rim was 20, do you really think it was possible to be a successful senior solicitor without being concerned with the development of a book of business? Oh and by the way, back the. You were xpcted to be a partner - with the expectation of bringing in work to match the title - at about 3 years qualified. The expectation that one can enjoy a lengthy and lucrative legal career without ever worrying about business development is a product of the 20 spoiled years post big bang. Anyone who actually practised law in the days to which today's wannabe bufties hark back would scoff at such notions.
    anonymous user
    12/03/2013 13:49
    Rate it
    0
    Report as offensive
    As a lawyer for 20 years and then a client for almost that long, I have to applaud this fellow for even giving thought to the concept of client satisfaction. The most important advice is that the lawyer's success is tied to the client's success. Anyone interested in a more intensive look at these issues should check out ClientConsultLLC.com. BTW, don't remember my birthday; that's sucking up.
    anonymous user
    12/03/2013 17:03
    Rate it
    7
    Report as offensive
    I have some other rules he should add that I think would go well on that list:

    (1) Ask your client what cologne/perfume s/he would prefer you wear;
    (2) Carry dairy-free organic dog biscuits should they attend a meeting with their dog;
    (3) Fill your pockets with rose petals so that you may sprinkle them infront of your clients feet as they walk;
    (4) Be sure to bow until your head is below the knees to any partner. If you have a bad back drop to one knee with your head bowed or grovel;
    (5) Be prepared to offer a client or partner bum sex at any time;
    (6) Take your client on a romantic river cruise;
    (7) Attend all meetings with grapes and a palm leaf. If you could also find a lounge chair to lug around that would be helpful.
    anonymous user
    13/03/2013 12:08
    Rate it
    0
    Report as offensive
    A lot of clients dont want this over attention.

    There are good clients and bad clients. The latter are a painful and costly nuisance.

    The best thing is to find mutual interests outside the work front.

    However cowtowing to a client is perceived as a sign of weakness.

    There have been some dreadful cases of sexual relations with clients.

    A City partner and his leading client (both male) were prosecuted for public sex not so long ago
    anonymous user
    14/03/2013 13:21
    Rate it
    0
    Report as offensive
    I’m just amazed as to the disparage between what private practice law firms / lawyers think is good customer service and the reality which is that it is incredibly poor. I’m not saying that there needs to deference, but there often a massive level of arrogance and unhelpfulness particular from the more traditional UK firms.

    Essentially, the market will dictate who is right on this debate. However Harvard Business School might just have a better take than trainees / jr lawyers who clearly don’t really have to manage client relationships. No one is saying that this stuff needs to be taken to extremes.

    “However cowtowing to a client is perceived as a sign of weakness.”

    This comment actually speaks volumes – it’s not about being combative with your client or trying to be stronger etc. It is not a battle between two silverbacks. The reality is that it is up to the client as you whether they accept your advice and act on it or indeed use a particular firm (let’s leave panels aside for a minute). They are the client - so many lawyers forget this.

    “There have been some dreadful cases of sexual relations with clients.”

    Are you really suggesting that “super pleasing” includes sexual favors – ridiculous.
    anonymous user
    14/03/2013 14:05
    Rate it
    9
    Report as offensive
    Well said Michael.

    Weekly Email Update

    To receive a weekly European email update, please login or register to RollOnFriday.