News: Courting The Clients

By Veronica Anderson

Guarantees don't come easy in the world of business. But a Chicago law firm is making one.

Starting this month, Coffield Ungaretti & Harris is offering clients a written guarantee that they will receive quality service.

Specifically, the firm promises to communicate with clients regularly and deliver cost-effective service on a timely basis. Backing up the pledge: a money-back guarantee.

“If Coffield Ungaretti & Harris does not perform to your satisfaction, inform us promptly,” the guarantee reads. “We will resolve the issue to your satisfaction, even if it means reducing your legal fees.”

The move is a response to a survey the firm commissioned in conjunction with Law Bulletin Publishing Co. An independent market research firm polled 383 legal service users from a sampling of 1,500 Chicago-area companies.

The survey results revealed clients' high level of sensitivity to the service provided by the law firms they hire:

• Nearly 60% of respondents said they have been disappointed with legal services provided by an outside law firm.

• Four out of five corporate legal service users said their dissatisfaction is likely to lead them to reduce use of the outside firm or to dismiss the firm.

• More than half say a written guarantee would positively influence their decision to hire a firm.

Legal ethics prohibit lawyers from making guarantees on the outcome of a case. Coffield lawyers are quick to point out that their guarantee says clients will be pleased with Coffield's service, no matter how the case turns out.

“It's a guarantee we (already) do now,” says Richard A. Ungaretti, managing partner of the 80-attorney firm. “We're just putting our cards on the table.”

There's no local precedent for Coffield's service guarantee, says David N. Anderson, assistant executive director of the Illinois Bar Assn. However, the bar in Philadelphia had its members sign a pledge to treat clients better, Mr. Anderson adds.

A common complaint against lawyers is their failure to communicate with a client. That was the reason cited on 25% of the 6,500 grievances filed last year with the state's Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission. Another 500 clients complained that their lawyers neglected them.

“It's a matter of courtesy to call clients,'' Mr. Anderson says. “Even if nothing's happening on a case, clients still wonder.”

Coffield has taken several steps to improve client service over the last five years.

In 1990, it hired legal consultant Hildebrandt Inc. to improve its competitive edge in the legal services market. Last year, the firm hired a partner who is responsible for customer service—instead of practicing law.

Now, Coffield officials maintain that their guarantee is the first such policy to be enacted, although other firms have explored the concept.

The move is viewed as unusual but intriguing.

“It's an interesting strategy,” says Gerald P. Giese, a lawyer in First Chicago Corp.'s trust division who often refers bank customers to Coffield. “Lawyers usually don't guarantee anything.''

The consumer protection tactic will have more appeal to individual clients and entrepreneurs than to general counsel at large, publicly traded companies, adds Mr. Giese. That's because big companies already have enough clout from generating sizable billings to demand quality service from the law firms they hire.

But even if Coffield's written guarantee is viewed by large businesses as only a symbolic gesture, it will carry weight, says Mr. Ungaretti.

Reprint permission from the May 29, 1995 issue of Crain's Chicago Business. Copyright 1995 by Crain Communications Inc.