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Since the abolition of the Law Society Scale of Charges in the early 1980s, all law firms have struggled to successfully manage one of the most critical aspects of the client relationship - pricing of the law firms services.
The introduction of the Client Care Rules under the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006, has imposed upon the profession for the first time, an obligation to be proactive in managing the cost aspect of the relationship with the client. However, being under an obligation to be more "up front" with clients on the matter of costs does nothing to assist practitioners to achieve that objective.
Unfortunately, some firms have seen the imposition of these new requirements as a further (and unnecessary) impost on their time. In contrast, at Validatum, we believe that it actually presents firms with an opportunity. Indeed, the broad approach to this aspect of the Client Care Rules is something we have been advocating for 10 years. From our experience in working with many law firms of all sizes throughout the country over that period, we have demonstrated conclusively that it is possible to significantly improve law firm profitability and maintain professional integrity and high levels of client satisfaction, retention and referral by better managing the pricing aspect of the client relationship.
Richard Burcher, New Zealand's recognised legal services pricing expert has developed a range of services to assist law firms through this minefield and specifically, strategies to help firms move from transactional time based costing to strategic value pricing, or a judicious blend of the two approaches, for the benefit of clients and the firm.
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