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The changing client

06 August 2009 / Tony Williams
Issue: 7381 / Categories: Features , Legal services , Profession
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Lawyers & law firms need to adapt to meet the needs of a more demanding client base, says Tony Williams

Law firms have had to anticipate and respond to the needs of their clients in order to stay in business.

This is as true in the high street as in the major city firms. It is even more the case today when, for the first time in a generation, we face an oversupply of lawyers.

This change is going to force law firms to understand how they are perceived by their clients, why their clients choose to use them and what causes a client to move to another law firm.
 

At a retail level, we live in a consumer society. We are used to being able to shop around, to compare products, have clear pricing and recourse to effective customer service teams to deal with any problems that arise. The interests of the consumer are key to the Legal Services Act, which is built on the principle of putting the consumer first.

Moving

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
In this week's NLJ, Steven Ball of Red Lion Chambers unpacks how advances in forensic science finally unmasked Ryland Headley, jailed in 2025 for the 1967 rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne. Preserved swabs and palm prints lay dormant for decades until DNA-17 profiling produced a billion-to-one match
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
Writing in NLJ this week, Victoria Rylatt and Robyn Laye of Anthony Gold Solicitors examine recent international relocation cases where allegations of domestic abuse shaped outcomes
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