Attorneys

• Charles R. Brodbeck

The following is from a conversation with Charles Brodbeck, President of Cohen & Grigsby as well as a lawyer who has dedicated 25 years to finance and real estate.

Q.    Recently, Cohen & Grigsby ran an ad that states, “A lawyer who doesn’t understand your business doesn’t deserve your business.” Do you agree with this thought?
Absolutely.  Today, clients expect and want more than legal advice; they want you to address their problems.  Often, those problems have more to do with business than the law.  To help them, you must understand their business.

This is an underlying principle of our firm.  Our lawyers aren’t just legal advisers, they’re business advisers.  That’s the extra value we bring.

Q.    What does it mean and why is it so important to understand a client’s business?
It means discussing goals and priorities.  It means paying attention to your clients’ personalities and the way they approach business decisions.  It means knowing everything--from knowing who the competition is, to understanding which raw materials are critical to the client, to recognizing the potential for global commerce.

When a lawyer understands a client’s business, something akin to a partnership develops.  It makes the entire process more meaningful, more rewarding, and more enjoyable.

Q.    How does this “understanding” affect your particular areas of the law?
One of my key areas is financing.  Often, clients have not gone through a financing previously or have done so only sporadically but in either event are not entirely comfortable with the process.  Since I’ve been doing financings for the last 25 years, I know the questions that need to be asked.  Moreover, because I know my clients’ goals, their current financial situation and the manner in which they approach issues, I can help them in their decision-making as to the appropriate means of financing, etc.

Q.    What will you do to understand your client’s business?
In addition to a lot of reading, I visit my clients, tour their facilities, meet their people, and generally talk with them about their business.

Q.    What have other Cohen & Grigsby lawyers done?
Our lawyers learn about their clients’ industries in a number of ways.  They read publications.  They’re involved in numerous professional organizations and councils.  They attend seminars, participate in forums and do all they can to stay abreast of the issues.

For example, we have several attorneys whose practices include e-commerce matters.  To better understand the web, many of them have learned HTML programming.

Q.    What advice would you give to a law student or new associate on this topic?
One thing I keep reminding myself is the importance of listening more and talking less.  You can’t understand a client’s business if you’re doing all the talking.

I would encourage every lawyer to become a specialist in their clients’ areas of business.  I would advise them to periodically step back from the daily tasks for a client that occupy our time — the document preparation, the meetings, and the details. Then they should ask themselves, “What is the client’s overall goal, and what does this client want to achieve.”  In other words, I want them to see the forest as well as the trees.

Q.    Cohen & Grigsby is also running an ad that states, “A lawyer who doesn’t return messages is definitely sending one. ”  Would you comment?
The law is a service business, and a significant part of that service is communication.  Our clients deserve to be apprised of developments and to have their concerns addressed and allayed.

Q.    What can lawyers do to become better at returning phone calls?
Today, everybody has a lot of pressures.  Everyone has demands on their time.  If a client has a question, it becomes one more item on their rather lengthy list of things that need to be addressed.  They want to get it off their list as soon as possible, so they can move on to the next matter.

That tends to make every concern a front burner issue.  That means every message must be returned as promptly as possible.

The key is to communicate, communicate, communicate.  We need to keep clients, as well as our colleagues, up to speed.  E-mail is a tremendous tool.  Through e-mail, I can respond to clients while I’m on hold, on my computer, or even on an airplane, any time of the day or night.

Some lawyers in our firm proactively contact their clients to keep them apprised of their case, rather than wait for a benchmark date or a phone call.  We want all of our attorneys to be proactive.

Q.    Do you have a personal policy about returning phone messages?
I try to return messages as soon as possible, ideally on the same day.  If travel or meetings prevent me from doing so, my secretary notifies the client that I’m unavailable and will call the next day.

Q.    How is that different than other lawyers?  Other law firms?
To be honest, I don’t really worry about what other law firms are doing.  What’s important to me is how our attorneys respond.  We want to do it better.

Q.    What sort of message does the lawyer who DOES return messages send?
I think it says, “You are important to us and we are responsive to your needs.”

For more information, please contact Charles Brodbeck at  cbrodbeck@cohenlaw.com.