Across the board, trust and estate attorneys were rated much lower by their clients in 2006 than they were just three years earlier, underscoring their inability to communicate the value of their work. This also shows the financial pressure facing attorneys with a largely transactional business model.
An Exercise In Futility
As noted previously, affluent clients have a lot at risk when they choose not to implement an estate plan. However, our research shows that trust and estate attorneys have much at stake as well when they leave their clients unsatisfied.
We all recognize that one bad experience can have an insidious and lasting effect and, in this case, can cast a pall over both the attorney and the law firm. Very few of the wealthy clients surveyed expect to work with the lawyer or the firm again, and a similarly small number would refer a family member, friend or business associate to the firm (Exhibit 5).
What's worse is that instead of simply choosing to work with another attorney or directing their colleagues and confidants elsewhere, these unhappy and dissatisfied clients will advise other people to avoid the professional or the firm altogether.
These simple actions, while imperceptible to the trust and estate attorney, can have a compounded effect and cause business to flatline or suffer. As they were on the other questions, proportionately more clients are critical of their experience and their professionals in 2006 than they were in 2003. In that period of time, the structure of the trust and estate business has become less client-oriented and, therefore, less client-friendly while the superwealthy have become more astute and demanding purchasers of professional services.