Shoosmiths lawyers explore how law firms integrate into the business ecosystem, collaborate with in-house legal teams, and secure and retain clients
Getting a firm grasp on how corporate law firms operate can be more difficult than it seems. At Legal Cheek’s recent event, ‘Understanding corporate law firms — with Shoosmiths’, two partners and a trainee at Shoosmiths lifted the lid on how top firms really work, detailing the services they provide for clients, how they win new business and how they charge for their work.
The speakers
• Fiona Cameron, partner in the banking and finance team
• Ruth Clare, partner in the real estate team
• Katie Hindle, trainee solicitor
What services to law firms provide to their clients?
We kicked off our discussion by covering the basics: what services do law firms provide to their clients. Fiona Cameron, partner in the banking and finance team shared an insight into the range of work her team is involved in. “The banking team tends to be involved in all sorts of work where there is debt involved,” she told us. “Our core contribution is drafting the finance contracts; we draft the loan agreements and security documents.” The banking and finance team at Shoosmiths acts for an even split of lenders and borrowers. The services the team provide varies depending on who their client is. “If you’re acting for the lender you draft, if you’re acting for the borrower you negotiate,” Cameron explained. Legal services are only one element of the service that Shoosmiths provides for their clients: “Being good at law is a given. We try to be relatable, accessible, and make sure everything runs smoothly. That’s what clients remember about working with us,” she said.
Ruth Clare, partner in the real estate team, gave us an idea of her team’s work. “Sometimes people only think of law firms as being involved in big deals. We do a lot of the day-to-day advice too,” she told us. “I work with retailers who are making decisions about their stores every day so I speak to them regularly.” Echoing Cameron’s point that the service a law firm provides goes far beyond legal advice, Clare explained how “firms are well-positioned to aid clients with technological innovation because we see what’s coming down the track. Now, we are helping several clients navigate AI technology and the impact it could have on their business.”
How do corporate law firms build and maintain relationships with clients?
Next up, we discussed how law firms can foster strong relationships with their clients. “So much of client relationships is the impression that the client gets from dealing with you in addition to your legal advice,” said Cameron. She stressed the importance of “spending time with clients to better understand their business: who they are and what they need.” This can look very different depending on the client – “Some clients love having lawyers in to deliver training, some clients prefer a day out to the rugby,” Cameron told the virtual audience.
Building relationships with clients can start from the very beginning of a lawyer’s career. “I am instructed by clients who I met as a trainee,” Cameron shared, adding “it’s an ongoing relationship.” Katie Hindle, trainee solicitor at Shoosmiths, shared her perspective on building client relationships at a junior stage. “Everyone has a role to play in building the relationship with clients. Trainees can get involved by keeping clients up to date on a matter, sending an email to keep them in the loop.” Hindle mentioned attending networking events with clients, “it’s important to be friendly and down to earth. Even trainees have their part to play in representing the firm.”
How do lawyers charge for their work?
Once these vital client relationships are established, how do lawyers make money? Our panel discussed the difference between the standard hourly rate, used by many solicitors to charge for their work, and a fixed fee arrangement which is not dictated by time spent and gives clients more certainty over legal fees.
Clare told our audience, “The real estate team do a lot of work on fixed fees. Our clients want to have a clear idea of how much our advice will cost for services like drafting a lease agreement.” However, there will be instances where things don’t go to plan and law firms will have to charge more than the original agreed fee. “If things go wrong and you end up doing a lot of extra work, it will be much easier to agree a higher cost if you have a good relationship with the client and you have communicated the issues. The cost shouldn’t come as a horrible surprise to the client.” Fixed fees can work for law firms as well, she explained: “We are also running a business, so it’s helpful to know how much money we’re making.”
In addition to making money, Cameron explained how law firms consider the competitive market when charging for work. “A lot of lenders will go out and look for three quotes,” she said. This can present challenges, “sometimes competitors will drastically undercut to win a piece of work, there’s not an awful lot you can do about that,” Cameron said, adding, “Once you have experience, you will be able to know what the market price is for a piece of work.”
How do law firm lawyers collaborate with in-house counsel?
Many clients will have their own inhouse legal teams that law firms interact with. Clare shared her insights on how to work productively with in-house lawyers. “It’s great dealing with in-house lawyers because they speak our language,” she said, “but we can’t expect them to do our job for us.” She continued: “An inhouse lawyer will typically be dealing with lots of other things internally. They don’t want to pay for us to do a job and then have to do it themselves. They want a distillation of all the effort we’ve put in.”
What are the key skills required to succeed in a legal career?
Our panel wrapped up by discussing the skills which all successful lawyers need and how to develop them. Hindle reflected on her experience working as a paralegal before starting her training contract at Shoosmiths. “I would really recommend working as a paralegal, whether you have yet to secure your training contract or you have a training contract starting in the future,” she told the audience. “This experience taught me key skills in document management as well as giving me an insight into how the business is run.”
For Cameron, initiative is a crucial attribute to have, especially for junior lawyers. “This is the difference between waiting to be told something or taking the initiative to go and look something up and have a think about a problem,” she elaborated. Additionally, “being able to see the bigger picture and keep the client’s larger goals in mind” is vital, especially in banking and finance work. “A finance contract is a living contract. Clients will constantly go back to check its terms. You need to have really thought about your clients future plans to make that document work for them,” she said.
Clare mentioned “an awareness of the world that we and our clients operate in” as a key skill lawyers need to develop. She urged trainees and junior lawyers to “be inquisitive about the commercial world” and “bring ideas to the table.”
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