Why Lawyers Should Visit their Clients

Our firm advises a lot of law firms on business development.  One point we always make is: visit your clients.

One law partner we are advising found out the hard way what happens when you don't.  His No. 1 client had been sending him hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal work.  Then his sole contact left the company.  Afterwards, his work was cut by more than half.  This was a brutal financial blow to absorb.

We recommended that he climb onto a plane, visit the client at their offices 530 miles away, spend several days there, and get to know all the executives and in-house lawyers.  In making the arrangements he discovered that the individual who slashed his work had left the company.  This is good news.  He's in a position to recoup the loss.

He also has another client -- a real estate investment firm that owns more than $100 million in commercial and residential real estate.  He has never actually met his client, the founder and owner who lives in the same city as the lawyer, in person.  He's currently getting nickle-dime matters from client, which has ambitious growth plans.  Yes we are recommending that he visit his client, to get more and better files.