This could be the profession’s big moment
Normally when I hear talk of adding value I start subtracting attention, but at a recent debate of senior lawyers one attendee raised the valid point of how legal advisers articulate the value of what they do. The premise is simple. Banks excel at talking to clients in concrete value terms: you do this deal and your share price will rise this much. Now, of course, the picture of value the bankers paint has quite often turned out to be nonsense, but the fact remains that the securities industry’s genius has been in articulating its value in a language clients relate to. By contrast, lawyers are poor at expressing their worth. True, law firms have become more commercially-minded in delivering advice and understanding clients’ businesses. But, by consensus, they still aren’t much better at talking up the value of their services.
