The people who make the most money in law firms are not necessarily the smartest lawyers, or the most strategic lawyers, or even the highest billing lawyers. It’s the lawyers who bring in clients who rake in the largest slice of the profit pie. We call these people the “client lawyers.”
There is nothing wrong with this, in theory. Sales is the key function of every business. However, with the concept of a “client lawyer” comes the question of how long a lawyer should maintain credit for bringing in a client when one or more other lawyers are working for that client, frequently to the exclusion of the original client lawyer.
Client lawyers will tell you that credit for bringing in clients should last forever. After all, they have to be rewarded for the strenuous work of going to lunches at the finest restaurants, attending sports events, and drinking fine wine, all at the firm’s expense. It’s only fair that they be compensated based on all of the future billings generated by their efforts. The lawyers who actually do the work will argue that, eventually, the rewards for keeping the client at the firm have to accrue to them.
Both are correct, and some firms develop policies to reward the client lawyers for a certain number of years, after which client credit can be switched to those who are maintaining the relationship. How effective those systems are, and how lawyers manipulate those systems, is a whole other topic.
My view on client lawyer designations is that they are, to a large extent, complete and utter nonsense. Allow me to explain. I was speaking to a lawyer (who I will call Susan) the other day who has been working with a firm for several decades, primarily for clients introduced to her by a very senior lawyer who I will call Paul. To this very day, Paul likes to remind Susan that she works for “his clients,” and to claim compensation for bringing them in.
The only way that Susan is ever going to prove that she is really the “client lawyer” and be paid for maintaining those client relationships is to move to another firm and take “Paul’s clients” with her. That will show Paul the simple truth: the client decides who their lawyer is.
Smart firms recognize that nothing lasts forever and find ways to reward each lawyer fairly for what they bring to the table. Dumb firms stick labels on clients and allow senior partners to stick it to more junior lawyers until the more junior people pack up and leave to make their point.
I think that it was Nancy Sinatra who said, “these clients are made for walking, and that’s just what they’ll do. One of these days these clients are going to walk away from you….ready, clients? Start walking.”
Or something like that.
This article was originally published by Law360 Canada, part of LexisNexis Canada Inc.