You want me to pay for what?!?

Robert Mattern’s “Cost Recovery Breeds Client Frustration in New Survey” on Law.com. According to the law firms Mattern polled as part of his biennial survey on cost recovery practices, “client pushback [on costs] is increasing.” This observation isn’t particularly new or revealing. Even in good times, clients question the charges that law firms pass along (as well they should). So why read this post? Because whenever you read “client frustration” you should be looking for the opportunity to alleviate that frustration. What are your charge-back policies? What do your clients think of them? Have you ever asked? How much money can the 30% of firms that charge clients for printing documents be recovering for those services? Think they’re making less profit than the 70% of firms that don’t? Maybe clients would be happier if they weren’t paying for printing. Or scanning. Or even telephone calls. How much are happier clients worth? Think they’d agree that less frustration = greater value?