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someone on the management committee who is responsible for complaints, giving clients direct access to a person in charge. The complaints manager evaluates negative comments, speaks with the lawyer involved, and meets with the client, if required. "The one area where we all fall down is explaining what it is we do," says Young. "One client in a written evaluation asked why he was charged so much for one letter. Well, it wasn't one letter. It was half a day of research but all he saw was the letter. The public doesn't always understand exactly what we offer as lawyers. They understand doctors better because they see the equipment. He listens to your chest. He gives you a pill. He makes you stand on a scale. But what do we do? We just sit there and look at you." In addition to the feedback sheets, several of the partners regularly meet with clients in person at the firm's cost, and every four to five years, Young hires an outside firm to survey a percentage of his clients. "We'll choose to survey 10 clients from the service industry and 10 from the finance industry, for example. We survey big and small clients," says Young. "And once our feedback is compiled, we have someone objective call the clients. We also hold 'lunch and learns' about once a year with all our lawyers." Young uses the data compiled by the outside public relations firm as a sort of branding exercise, a way to maintain and strengthen his firm's reputation within the community, and to see how his company is doing overall. "Our marketing and executive committees analyze the information. General comments go to all partners and then to the full firm. There is no sense in compiling all the information if you are not going to use it as a management tool and to educate people as to what clients think or don't think about you." Borden Ladner Gervais LLP is one large firm that has invested a substantial amount of time and money in a multi- layered system of client feedback, using both formal and informal methods. Simone Hughes, the firm's chief marketing officer, admits "everybody is scared of feedback. We don't always like to hear the bad. But the best lawyers and the best rainmakers are those who listen to the negative feedback and use it to get better. It's like American Idol. When you listen to Simon Cowell, he is real. He doesn't just say bad things to be sensational. He gives the people what they need to get the job done. This is the same thing." Hughes believes lawyers and professionals in general "are no longer perceived as gods or know-alls. There are many choices and clients can't differentiate between the top law firms. They provide relatively the same services. So if you can get a competitive edge by learning how to do things better and not accepting how things were before, you become more valued with more clients and therefore more money." The way BLG compiles information ranges from quite simple to the very complicated. To start, there is the problem of logistics. "We have thousands of clients. We cannot meet or even call them all," says Hughes. "However, all lawyers are supposed to ask how they are doing in their day-to-day affairs. That is level one of the process: Just ask!" That describes the simple way to gather information. Then there is the not-so simple: one-on-one phone or in-person formal audits in which at least two senior partners, who are not on the account, will meet the client or arrange to speak to him or her on the phone. Tips for successful client feedback Use a mix of formal and informal methods to obtain client feedback. This ranges from having the lawyer on the file ask how the client is doing to one-on-one hour-long interviews by a senior partner. Have at least one senior partner contact the top 10 to 20 per cent of your clients every year. Develop a three- to five-year plan on how and when all clients will be contacted. Making use of the answers is the easy part. Take the time to formulate the right questions. 32 M AY 2010 www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com doing? am I How