In a law firm, it’s well known that
proper education takes years and years.
At Thompson Hine LLP, that philosophy
was taken to client service. In 2003, the
firm conducted its first client satisfaction survey, asking nearly 70 percent of
its clients the areas where it did well
and the areas where it required
improvement.
With that information in hand, Thompson
Hine Managing Partner David J. Hooker
and his leadership team were able to develop core principles to live by to please
clients and pass out a draft to every single
employee — not just the firm’s 400 lawyers
but everyone in the firm.
Giving each employee a chance to offer
feedback on that draft, Thompson Hine
came up with a client service pledge that it
was able to adopt and introduce within the
firm in 2006. Before communicating that
plan outside the firm, however, more training and information on the pledge was
given to every employee. Rather than
just making the pledge something the
firm could hang on the wall, Thompson
Hine made it a priority that every
employee would have regular training
on client satisfaction and that new surveys were done every 18 to 36 months to
get the best information available.
The results have been individualized
client service teams that sit down regularly with top clients and conduct an
annual meeting to talk about specific
goals and objectives and a client summit
that brings together general counsel for
clients and lawyers from Thompson
Hine to discuss trends relevant to their
portion of the legal industry.
Beyond touching base with clients regularly, Thompson Hine has been able to
create a uniform process for dealing with
client problems and inject a large dose of
client-first attitude into the firm.
HOW TO REACH: Thompson Hine LLP, (216) 566-5500 or
www.thompsonhine.com
