The Business Case for Flexibility: Are You Really Giving Your Clients What They Want?

Consider these questions…Are your clients consistently happy with the attorneys working for them? Have your clients complained about turnover in the firm? Have they taken their business with a departing partner? Have they refused to pay to get a new lawyer up to speed?

Improved attorney retention can address all of these issues and is essential to giving your clients what they want. Reducing attorney attrition is a key to the financial success of your firm, and you must make sure you retain the valuable lawyers you worked so hard to recruit and train.

Improving retention improves lawyer quality in two ways: 1) the lawyers who stay with the firm develop their skills through experience and have a deeper knowledge of clients’ business; and 2) recruiting yields better candidates when the firm has a reputation as a great place for work-life control.

One major key to reducing attrition and improving recruitment is flexible work schedules. Look back over the last five years and consider which lawyers has the firm gained or lost? Could the collegiality in the firm be improved by increased stability in the lawyer ranks? Research shows that having a culture that embraces non-stigmatized flexible work schedules strengthens law firms by increasing tenure among the firm’s lawyers. This leads to stronger client relationships, better recruiting, and more profitability.

When making the case for flexible work schedules at your firm, it’s essential to show the connection between flexibility and the firm’s performance to get firm leadership on board to support a flexible work program. Bottom line: the business case for flexibility is undeniable!

For more information, read Develop Your Firm’s Unique Business Case for Flexibility.