To run a law firm can be challenging. However, with the ethical use of technology, the stress of running a law firm could be decreased. It has been noted, however, that the legal industry is resistant to change and that the legal fraternity is not currently embracing innovation (G Torres ‘Levelling the playing field: Legal technology requires retooling legal skill sets to stay in the game’ (2022) University of San Francisco Law Review). Legal practitioners often forget that law firms are businesses and that their aim should be to –
- be client-centric;
- uphold their reputation;
- effectively manage their time; and
- be successful.
The use of technology could be a powerful tool to increase the client’s centricity of your firm (C Marston ‘When the unexpected becomes the expected’ (www.solicitorsjournal.com, accessed 1-10-2025)) and provide guidance to newly established and inexperienced legal practitioners in running their firms efficiently and client-centric. If firms are more strategic in their ethical use of technology, law firms can breach the resistance to adopt new technologies and create a firm that is effective and focused on being client-centric (M Ashok, R Madan, A Joha and U Sivarajah ‘Ethical framework for Artificial Intelligence and Digital technologies’ (2022) International Journal of Information Management).
New matters
On-boarding new clients could be time-consuming if manual methods are used. To do this task quicker, legal practitioners are encouraged to use innovative methods, such as a Google Form that is sent to new clients for completion before the first consultation, thereby ensuring that all relevant information is available to the legal practitioner from the start of the matter (JH Choi, AB Monahan and D Schwarcz ‘Lawyering in the Age of Artificial Intelligence’ (2024) Minnesota Law Review 147). Another method would be to remind clients via WhatsApp what supporting documentation is required, which will streamline the initial meeting (N Schippers ‘Become more client-centric using technology’ (2018) GPSOLO 54). Thirdly, appointments could be scheduled by clients online, thereby ensuring that clients are satisfied with the date and time of their appointment, due to their selection of the appointment (Schippers (op cit)).
When a legal practitioner takes instructions from a new client, it is important to ensure that there is a signed Fee Agreement at the end of the first consultation. It is important to discuss your fees with your client from the start, to avoid fee disputes with clients later down the road (KC Balthu and B Clegg ‘Improving professional service operations: Action research in a law firm’ (2021) International Journal of Operations & Production Management 805). Further, ensure that a deposit has been received on file, before starting any work on the matter. Legal practitioners are not advised to take on matters where they are not personally conversant with that particular aspect of the law. Lastly, it is crucial to ensure that you only accept new clients when you have the capacity to do so. This refers to resource-, workload- and expertise capacity (H Hamilton-Shaw ‘No road back in satisfying client expectations’ (2022) (https://solicitorsjournal.com, accessed 1-10-2025)).
Client satisfaction
To create client-centric legal services, clients need to have a positive experience at law firms, and this will take place when the legal practitioners place the needs and expectations of their clients at the forefront of every decision they make (J Newton The Client-Centered Law Firm: How to Succeed in an Experience-Driven World (Blue Check Publishing 2020)).
Clients should have a positive experience when obtaining legal advice, in order to achieve this, legal practitioners should simplify the experience, use simple language that is easily understood by their clients and there should be an open communication channel between legal practitioners and their clients, that results in clients being aware of the status of their matters and the way forward (Newton (op cit)).
Legal practitioners should continuously interact with their clients, through automated WhatsApp or e-mail messages, providing the status of their cases, thereby ensuring that the personal touch is not lost in the digital world and that their clients remain informed (A Davies (ed) What Clients Want from Law Firms (Globe Law and Business Limited 2024)). It is further important to ensure that you are fulfilling all your clients’ legal needs, by providing an all-encompassing service (Davies (op cit)).
It is further important to regularly account to your clients and legal practitioners are advised to e-mail monthly invoices to their clients. Legal practitioners should not deviate from the Fee Agreements signed with their clients and they should further ensure effective time management, to ensure that all matters receive adequate attention (H Hamilton-Shaw ‘Front and centre: Consumer-centric marketing’ (2021) (www.solicitorsjournal.com, accessed 1-10-2025)).
Firms should be constantly developing their client service model. Therefore, it is important to request client feedback and to action on feedback received. This will aid the firm in becoming more client-centric, thereby increasing client satisfaction (Hamilton-Shaw (2022) (op cit)). Satisfied clients will return to your practice with new legal dilemmas, and they will refer other people to you. The value of word-of-mouth referrals should not be underestimated.
When there are fee disputes with disgruntled clients, these disputes should be quickly resolved, and it should be ensured that similar issues do not arise again in their practice in other matters (Legal Practice Council ‘Legal Practitioners Fee Assessments’ (https://lpc.org.za, accessed 1-10-2025)).
Accounting
It is recommended that legal practitioners should use proper accounting software to prepare their books of account. Legal practitioners are cautioned about the risks associated with manual bookkeeping practices, since manual bookkeeping could increase the risk of accounting errors and it is a lot more time-consuming (K Mania ‘Legal Technology: Assessment of the Legal Tech Industry’s Potential’ (2024) Journal of the Knowledge Economy 595). Legal practitioners are further advised not to open multiple trust accounts if they do not have the capacity to effectively manage and control same.
Furthermore, legal practitioners are reminded that the management of trust accounts remains the legal practitioner’s responsibility, and this responsibility cannot be delegated to administrative staff, irrespective of their years of experience. Legal practitioners are further cautioned to limit taking a leave of absence from their practices, since this could lead to reputational damage to the practice, as well as increase their risk exposure. Succession planning should be utilised if a leave of absence is necessitated due, for example, health reasons in order to ensure the smooth operation of the firm.
Continuous learning and development
Legal practitioners should always be knowledgeable about the law concerning the type of matters that they deal with. Legal practitioners are, therefore, encouraged to regularly attend training and workshops to update their skills and to increase their knowledge (Davies (op cit)). Legal practitioners should attend legal technology training, soft skill training, as well as training based on legislative changes within South Africa (P Riddleston ‘Keep on moving? Continuous learning for resilience and growth’ (https://solicitorsjournal.com, accessed 1-10-2025)).
In the day-to-day operations of a law firm, a legal practitioner will not have the time to research a new field of law, sufficiently. This could lead to client dissatisfaction, that could drastically impact on the reputation of the legal practitioner and the law firm concerned (NK Mai, AKT Nguyen and TT Nguyen ‘Implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy to Enhance Firm Reputation and Competitive’ (2021) Journal of Competitiveness 96).
Use of technology
Traditional marketing methods are no longer effective, in order to effectively increase the market awareness of your firm, legal practitioners need to use technology to create a social media footprint (Hamilton-Shaw (2021) (op cit)). It is no longer sufficient for a law firm to only have a website, it is recommended that firms should also have social media accounts, whereon legal practitioners post helpful and relevant content from time to time, thereby increasing their market awareness online (J Amin ‘Why small law firms are focussing on social media’ (www.lexisnexis.co.uk, accessed 1-10-2025)).
The digitalisation of the legal industry is slowly taking place, law firms that do not digitalise their service offering, will be left behind (M Cohen ‘Portrait of the Customer-Centric Legal Function’ (www.forbes.com, accessed 1-10-2025)).
By using technology in your practice, you will be future proofing your firm and increasing your firm’s ability to adapt to the changing circumstances in the legal industry and in client expectations (Marston (op cit)). When artificial intelligence is used responsibly, it could increase the capacity of firms, thereby ensuring that legal practitioners could take in more new instructions and thereby increasing their earning capacity (R Couture ‘The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Law Firms’ Business Models’ (clp.law.harvard.edu, accessed 1-10-2025)).
Each step taken towards integrating technology into your practice will aid the future proofing of your law firm (R Susskind Tomorrow’s Lawyers: An introduction to your future (Oxford 2023)).
Lastly, legal practitioners should also have innovative business strategies that include the short-, medium- and long-term goals for their firm that includes how they will leverage the use of technology in future (Hamilton-Shaw (2022) (op cit)).
Conclusion
To make the most of your client’s first impression of your firm, leverage technology to create seamless business processes and a quick and efficient client experience on which you could build a positive reputation for your firm. It is important to simplify bookkeeping by using adequate software, to always invest in gaining knowledge and to leverage technology to optimise the functioning of your practice. If you do, word of mouth will boost your firm’s reputation and new matter referrals, that will ensure that your clients’ first impressions will become the start of lasting client relationships.
Bianca Bothma LLB (NWU) MBA (cum laude) (UJ) is a Legal Advisor: Prosecutions at the Legal Practitioners’ Fidelity Fund in Centurion.
This article was first published in De Rebus in 2025 (Nov) DR 4.
The post Best practices for client-centric legal services while remaining compliant appeared first on De Rebus.