News: CU&H Signs On Its Own Dotted Line In Satisfaction Guarantee

By Eric Herman

A Chicago firm just put it in writing: Coffield, Ungaretti & Harris is offering written service guarantees.

“It's just another form of communication. We're basically prepared to put in writing what we do on a regular basis,” said managing partner Richard A. Ungaretti.

The guarantee promises that Coffield, Ungaretti clients will be satisfied with the service they receive. If not, an immediate change will be made, up to and including reducing fees. In keeping with professional ethics, the pledge does not guarantee results.

The guarantee may foster communication and cement their relationships with their clients, lawyers with the firm say.

According to partner Ross H. Fishman, the idea for the written service guarantee arose from market research conducted on the firm's behalf by the Law Bulletin Publishing Co.

The survey, Fishman said, showed that clients presumed that their attorneys at major firms were highly skilled.

“It's the service issues that always causes them to leave law firms. What we're saying is that it's our burden to find out how you want to be served. It's your burden to tell us, too,” he said.

Fishman cited dealings between doctors and patients as an example.

“You presume that the doctor is not going to screw this up,” Fishman said. “What causes you to leave and switch doctors is the fact that they leave you waiting in the waiting room. They talk over your head. They don't listen to you.

They don't return your calls when you have a problem.”

The market survey of 383 interviews targeted in-house counsel and other corporate personnel who make decisions about hiring law firms.

Approximately 90 percent of the survey respondents said they would tell their law firm if they were dissatisfied with the service they received. A slightly lower percentage said they would reduce or eliminate the use of the firm as a result of their dissatisfaction.

Questions about dissatisfaction did not pertain to a specific firm. Fifty-seven percent of the respondents said they had at some point been dissatisfied with the service of an outside firm.

Respondents were then presented with a hypothetical in which one of two equally-qualified law firms offered a written service guarantee. Some 51 percent said the guarantee would make them more likely to choose that firm.

The guarantee that Coffield, Ungaretti came up with says:

“We guarantee that as a client of Coffield, Ungaretti & Harris you will receive cost-effective legal services delivered in a timely manner. We promise to involve you and communicate with you regularly.

“We cannot guarantee outcomes; we do guarantee your satisfaction with our service. If Coffield, Ungaretti & Harris does not perform to your satisfaction, inform us promptly. We will resolve the issue to your satisfaction even if it means reducing your legal fees.”

Ungaretti said that the firm consulted with people outside the firm as it prepared the text of the guarantee.

“We have in fact talked about the guarantee to some clients-generally, I think, probably general counsels. We've run the idea past them, and showed them some of the media stuff, and I think basically determined that it would be favorably received,” Ungaretti said.

Fishman said that two of the several outside lawyers the firm discussed the guarantee with were Michael E. Rigney, a general attorney at Amoco Corp., and Gerald P. Giese, an assistant vice president at the First National Bank of Chicago.

Ungaretti said that despite some initial misgivings, firm lawyers and support staff stood behind the idea. Firm employees at all levels have heard presentations on the guarantee.

“At the partner level, of course, there was some skepticism,” he said. “[But] once it got past the executive committee, we really kind of announced it to our attorneys and staff.

“There's a risk that our competitors will raise it to some other level. And it's a risk because it's something new and it's never been done.”

Fishman said that the firm planned to start notifying its clients on May 19th and begin placing advertisements featuring the guarantee in the beginning of June.

“Whenever we bring in a new client, as part of our normal procedure we will then notify them [of the guarantee] as part of the engagement letter,” Ungaretti added.

Ungaretti said that the possibility of receiving complaints about bills did not worry him.

“Just the opposite. I think we're looking for that,” he said. “Our guarantee is really structured to foster communication with our clients.”

If the client has a problem with a bill, Ungaretti said, “We're prepared to straighten it out.”

“Over the long term that really is what defines an attorney-client relationship: If they've got issues with our service, they bring them to our attention, versus someone who doesn't tell us what's wrong and leaves us,” he said.

“We try to explain to them the value that they received; and if they did not receive $X of value, then that is a communication issue. They should not be surprised by a bill,” Fishman said.

“If we have to pay or write off some fees to solidify our relationship . . . well, that's an investment in the long-term relationship that we have with our client,” he added.

Fishman said that while the firm had in the past used client surveys as a way of getting feedback, “You can't do that with a client every month.”

He said clients will be asked about their satisfaction levels throughout the relationship instead of waiting until a matter ends.

The guarantee, he said, offers the prospect of a steadier stream of client feedback.

Ungaretti hopes the guarantee will encourage dialogue between the firm and its clients. If a problem arises, he said, “Sitting down and talking through it with them is the way to build relationships.”

Regardless of possible fee disputes looming on the horizon, the firm is proceeding on the assumption that it pays to listen.

“To the extent clients don't complain to lawyers, I think studies show that they'll leave and find someone else,” Ungaretti said.

This article is reprinted with permission from the June 1995 issue of Chicago Lawyer.