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64 P E E R T O P E E R : I L T A ' S Q U A R T E R L Y M A G A Z I N E | W I N T E R 2 0 2 0 Building Trust with Attorneys The more you know, the better you can build those relationships: • Know the operating environment. • Know that building trust takes time but can be lost quickly. • Know and build your own strengths. • Know the strengths of others and have others help with your weaknesses. • Know that it is possible to build trust, and from there you can build great teams and have great success. Empathy Really Helps Understanding some of the pressures on attorneys means you can empathize with them and help you in adapting your approach to support them in their business. Every day they face these pressures: • Time – lawyers have billable hour goals that are immovable. Every minute not billing costs revenue. • Be an expert - do great work. Avoid or limit mistakes. Don't take too long. Meet deadlines. • Keep clients happy. Work with them when they aren't. Anticipate their needs. • Be a great lawyer: learn the law, manage the work, manage expectations. • Be a good member of the legal community: bar associations, pro bono, etc. • Get new clients, because clients leave, business development, competitive threats to client relationships. • Be a good partner: lead a practice group, serve on the compensation committee, lead an office, serve on the technology committee. • Deal with billing disputes. Everything you can do to alleviate or at least not impinge on their ability to manage the pressures, is important. Back to what we all wish we had known when we started in legal. I wish I had taken the time to absorb and understand the law practices of the firm. I wish I had recognized the personality traits of the attorneys and management and realized it would help me to adjust to those. I wish I had spent more time and energy building trusting and empathetic relationships with my attorneys. I think I would have struggled less and been more successful quickly. Oh, and I should have listened more!! Next quarter we'll look at the business and technologies of law, how technology is helping transform the legal industry, and how you can help build bridges between IT and the business. ILTA A S K I N G T H E R I G H T Q U E S T I O N S

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