I did great legal work for Dr. Bob. He even said so. My service was impeccable. My fees were reasonable. It was a great relationship.
One day, Doctor Bob called to tell me that he had sold his clinic, and he asked me to provide the deal lawyer with any required assistance. And just like that, I found out that my relationship with Dr. Bob might have been a mile wide, but it was only an inch thick. You see, I was not his “trusted advisor.”
You might have heard of the concept of a “trusted advisor.” This is the key advisor that a client trusts above all others to put their interests first, and who the client believes has the best overall judgment. When there is a problem, the trusted advisor gets the first call, even if the issue is not within the trusted advisor’s area of expertise.
The trusted advisor influences the client as to whether the input of other professionals is required, and helps the client decide who to hire. If the trusted advisor were to say, “sure Murray is great and he has been your lawyer for 20 years, but for this matter I suggest that you hire Cliff,” you can be sure that Murray just lost a file. Murray may have lost it because Sam knew someone who could do a better job than Murray, although even as I write this, I realize just how ridiculous that sounds. More likely, Cliff refers Sam more work.
In professional services, being the trusted advisor is the holy grail. I was the trusted advisor to many of my clients. Doctor Bob was just not one of them.
Here are some of the attributes that a professional has to have to be a trusted advisor: honesty, integrity, likeability, capability, common sense, business sense, loyalty, responsiveness, willingness to invest time to learn the client’s business at the advisor’s expense, general knowledge beyond their own specialty, a proactive approach, and the willingness to squander potentially billable hours getting to know the client, their business, and their family situation.
Being the trusted advisor to as many clients as possible has always been an important goal for lawyers. Lawyers who achieve that have substantial client bases which translates into large allocations of partnership income. Soon it will be even more important. Look at the attributes of a trusted advisor that I have listed. They are all about personality, character, intellect, and demeanor. Things that humans can do and AI cannot. If you want to thrive in the new AI world, you will have to do it by being the trusted advisor to your clients, as opposed to just being a good technician.
Now if you want to worry about something, think about this: if AI gets to the point where there is truly such a thing as a Trusted AI Advisor, we are all doomed. But relax, I think we have at least a few years left. Don’t squander them!
Read Appara‘s thoughts about the roles of AI and humans in reviewing contracts here: https://bit.ly/4cX3dMS