How I think about — Client Value
The next matter is decided on the last one.
Client value is not a line in a pitch deck. It is what the client can recognize in the way the matter was scoped, priced, managed, communicated, and remembered after the work is done.
Principle
Client value is not a slogan. It is what the client can recognize after the work is done.
The tension
Firms often talk about value in broad terms, but clients experience it through specifics: predictability, responsiveness, judgment, transparency, business fit, and whether the matter felt well managed from the other side.
Where I lean
Toward treating client value as something that can be studied, not just claimed. Post-matter reviews, rate conversations, budget performance, and repeat work all tell a story about whether the firm delivered in a way the client wants to buy again.
Where I hesitate
Around value language that floats above the actual matter. 'Client value' means less when it is disconnected from scope, price, outcome, communication, and the client's internal pressures.
Working note
The best value conversations do not happen only after something goes wrong. They help turn one good matter into the next five.
§ ReferencesWhere this thinking comes from
- ACCValue Challenge
- BigHandClient Strategy & Profitability
- Thomson ReutersState of the Legal Market
Synthesised from publicly available reports and commentary. All views my own.