Law Firms Focusing on 'Relationship Business' Beyond Legal Services

Published 01 Apr.2024 20:20(KST)

Private Seminars and More
Customized Services for Clients
Strengthening Customer Relationships
Targeting Clients Strategically

The main task of law firms is to provide legal services. However, stopping there often means falling behind. In addition to their primary duties, they must also engage in 'managing clients' sentiments.' This is the reason why Korean law firms have recently been focusing on 'relationship business,' which involves forming and managing relationships with clients. Due to delays in investigations and trials, the time spent dealing with clients has increased, heightening the need for psychological stability. Furthermore, as competition among law firms intensifies, continuous client management has become crucial.

"You must touch the client's emotions and earn their trust"

[Image source=Beomryul Newspaper]

There are cases where law firms have strengthened their client relationships and targeted clients by leveraging superior communication skills compared to other firms. Gaon Law Firm (Representative Attorney Kang Nam-gyu) recruited Park Hyun-jung, former head of Hana Bank's Living Trust Center, on the 4th of last month. She is recognized for her expertise in building trust with elderly clients and their families who are concerned about business succession, and in accurately understanding the true intentions of parties involved in inheritance and trusts. Such work leads to the law firm providing legal services related to inheritance disputes or trusts.

Baek Jeong-sik, head of Gaon Family Office Center, said, "Clients in the inheritance and trust sector often confide only in a trusted few," adding, "Therefore, the process of touching the client's emotions and earning their trust is important." It is common for large law firms to hold free seminars on key areas such as major accidents and ESG for corporate clients as a way to manage them. Now, law firms go beyond this by offering customized services such as private seminars and presentations exclusively for individual clients to capture their business.

This is part of managing potential clients who have not yet entrusted cases but can approach the law firm at any time. Kim & Chang Law Office (Representative Attorney Jung Kye-sung) is known to provide customized presentation services on matters of interest to some major clients. Taepyungyang Law Firm (Representative Attorney Lee Jun-gi) sends affiliated attorneys to individual companies to host seminars on current issues of interest.

An executive committee member of a large law firm said, "In our firm, private seminars for a small number of VIP clients have recently increased significantly." Some law firms have even adopted slogans emphasizing the importance of building relationships with clients. Jeong Jae-min (47, Judicial Research and Training Institute class 32), representative attorney of the recently established Yemunjeong & Partners Law Firm last month, explained, "Successful outcomes are important, but our goal is to help clients not struggle during the process leading to those outcomes."

"Client-facing and reassuring tasks cannot be replaced by AI"

Foreign law firms have long focused on building relationships with clients in various ways. Korean law firms tend to manage clients who have entrusted cases and prefer formal events such as seminars. In contrast, foreign law firms conduct a wide range of events targeting a broad potential client base, including cultural activities and sports viewing.

A foreign attorney said, "When I worked at a global law firm, there were corporate anniversaries. On those dates, only specific corporate clients were invited to socialize together," adding, "It was also common to play sports like bowling or baseball with clients or watch tennis matches together." There are various reasons why law firms are enthusiastic about relationship business. First, as Korean law firms rapidly grow and competition intensifies, providing comprehensive total care beyond just legal services has become important. Also, delays in investigations and trials have resulted in longer client interaction times.

It has become essential to frequently report work progress to clients and alleviate their concerns. There is also analysis that this trend will strengthen with the advancement of AI. A representative attorney of a law firm said, "Although many legal tasks have become automated with the development of artificial intelligence, tasks involving face-to-face client reassurance and maintaining relationships will not be easily replaced," and predicted, "There will be more cases where attorneys perform such roles."