How Do You Rank?

Published February 26, 2013

The legal profession seems obsessed with rankings – in Martindale-Hubbell, The Best Lawyers in America, Chambers USA, SuperLawyers, Avvo.com and countless others.The gist of all these rankings is that they purport to “objectively” portray a lawyer’s skill, service and ethics. However, there is one ranking that indisputably proves how good any lawyer or law firm is at practicing law: how you rate with your current clients. The skills of a lawyer and the way in which services are delivered to the client are the ultimate measures of professional effectiveness – when the measuring is done by the client.

This is not an issue of how competent your clients think you are. Competence is actually a pretty low benchmark. You can very clearly see where you rank on the criteria your clients really value by rating yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being the top) on these three measurements:

  • How fast do clients pay you? If the client pays each bill every month like clockwork, you rate high. If, however, the client owes a great deal of money and shows very little inclination to pay it, your rating is low. You truly have a good relationship with your client only when the client’s account receivable is up to date within 30 days. Delinquent accounts at 90 to 180 days indicate that the client is dissatisfied, doesn’t respect you, or may be considering disciplinary action.
  • How many referrals do clients make to you? Asking clients for a testimonial does not equal a business referral. Most clients value confidentiality and subconsciously are reluctant, even when they do give permission, to be publicly identified. The real indicator of how you rate with them is how many relatives, friends and business colleagues they personally refer to you. A client who is named on your website but who makes no referrals is actually giving you a low ranking.
  • How often do clients talk with you? Not enough law firms ask their clients how they are doing, and thus never figure out that their client is unhappy. The best answers come by visiting the client periodically. Don’t be apprehensive about what to say or do in making such visits; the real goal is to get clients to talk about their business and to listen to what they are saying. If clients tell you their hopes and plans, they rank you high as their lawyer. If the conversation is short, ask quickly how you can improve – or risk losing that client.

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Audience type: Administrators, Associates, Large Law Firms, Small Law Firms, Sole Practitioners