Maurice Blackburn Case Study

Maurice Blackburn – We Fight For Fair

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The Client

Maurice Blackburn is the leading Australian Law firm.

The Issue

Business had grown from a small Melbourne Based Plaintiff Law Firm – to become a National Group with over 80 offices. The market was becoming increasingly competitive, with many competitors turning to mainstream media to promote their services .The Partners recognised the need to engage all office staff and lawyers in the need to work effectively together – using a set of clear principles – to provide a consistent and unrivalled client and referrer lived experience. Given the legal process is a new and a quite daunting and emotional for most clients, it was important to front end and back end of what is promised and provided to a client is aligned, understood, observable and consistent. The key being for each office to forge a set of authentic and valued relationships with referrers and clients by earning their trust by fulfilling their promises and commitments. This in turn would build a strong referrer base and provide a platform for growth.

The Plan & Methodology

Develop and fuel a “dissatisfaction with the status quo” mindset with the Partners and Office Leaders by gaining feedback from clients, referrers, staff and legal outcomes – to capture what is done well and what could be improved or accelerated. This was achieved via a combination of storytelling, listening posts and surveys. The was feedback via a series of “inconvenient truth” workshops to share the results and talk through ideas and solutions. A common and consistent framework was developed focusing on

Aligning the 9 touches of brand promises with client experiences
Creating a welcoming and intimate first impression process
Adopting a 4 P’s approach to how to act & Behave: Professional Personal Personable Proactive
Building the Coaching Skills of Office Leaders
Developing the engagement and customer service skills of support & front of house staff
Facilitating regular half yearly strategic half days with each office to review where they are and agree tactics and strategies for the next six months

Account Managing Referrer Groups
Operational Excellence in each office and what this means to the things like File Management, Answering Client Enquiries, Phone and Email Management, Managing Feedback Loops with Referrers, Six Weekly Communication Touch Points with Clients, Team Based approach to Client Management, Preparing for Court Cycles, Dealing with complaints and problems, Local Marketing, PR, and Networking, finding the time to Account Manage
Empowering teams to actually have a go at some local marketing and profile-raising initiatives – and be prepared to share learnings with other offices

The Outcomes

Sustained double digit organic growth for seven consecutive years
Growth in market share – with no increase in marketing spend
Highest referral source was word of mouth referrals in each office
Grew the network of referring groups and bodies year on year

A more discerning and effective approach to account management
Unrivalled service experiences of clients continue to evolve
Staff engaged and feeling empowered
Improved legal outcomes for clients – exceeding that of competitors
Quantum shift in morale and team engagement

What Our Clients Have to Say

“The best part of working with David and his team is the willingness of client staff to participate rather than begrudgingly giving up their valuable time” 

David Stewart's approach not only helped engage and unite our community, he also motivated and stimulated key stakeholders, which allowed for strong project management, fund raising, communications and promotion. The project outcomes would not have been possible without David's expert guidance, professionalism and facilitation - Our Town is forever grateful”.

We have been using the RYP Team to engage and coach up our Senior Staff, Middle Managers, and Partners to help grow their business units whilst at the same time improve our staff engagement and customer service ratings. All our business performance measures have accelerated and the results have exceeded our targets and are well above our expectations. The RYP Team has certainly added value to our business across the board.

Need some guidance?

Every assignment is unique – nothing is pulled off the shelf – but certainly there are common themes and issues all teams have

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