Why are lawyers less enthusiastic when negotiating fees?
Our negotiating fees training is aimed at building confidence and increasing recovery.
Negotiating fees can be a challenge for lawyers mainly because they prefer to focus on the law. The case or matter itself interests them and they want to get stuck in. The commercial part of being a lawyer is necessary but not the reason why most lawyers become lawyers. So discussing fees, never mind negotiating them, is not where they want to spend their time.
The other key aspect is that some lawyers do not know precisely how and when to agree fees.
The challenge for the firm is that recovery is directly impacted by successful agreement of fees at the start of a matter and, sometimes more importantly, during the piece of work.
ITD's approach to helping lawyers when negotiating fees
Our approach to negotiating fees training gives lawyers a clear framework on when to agree fees, how to negotiate and what a successful approach looks like. And this is tailored to the needs of the individual lawyer and practice area. Fee structures for Commercial and Property practice areas can be very different to those for Clinical Negligence, and different again to Immigration lawyers, or Criminal.
So our training gives lawyers a set of tools to use straight away. Exactly how they apply them is part of the action planning part of the workshop, where we use our behavioural change tool to create a realistic plan.
Objectives of this negotiating fees training
The specific objectives for the negotiating fees workshop are tailored to the needs of the lawyers and the firm, but from experience will probably include:
- Review and agree when to negotiate and agree fees.
- Give lawyers the tools to develop their confidence in negotiating fees.
- Help to increase recovery.
Timing
Like all soft skills training for lawyers the challenge is to get them to participate for long enough. For that reason we tailor the timing of this session to give the following options:
- One hour taster session.
- Two hour session.
- Three hour workshop.
- Six hour workshop.
Concepts used in our negotiating fees training
The DRIVE methodology to negotiating fees
The DRIVE methodology gives a framework for how to plan, prepare and manage your negotiations.
The impact of personality on negotiating fees
The ITD personality model gives a simple framework on how to understand ourselves and others.
Agenda
The precise agenda really depends on the objectives you have for the training. The following gives a menu of options to pick from. And there may also be other areas no mentioned below which you would like to add.
- Introductions & objectives.
- The need to improve recovery.
- Participant experiences.
- Internal support available.
- When is the right time to negotiate fees.
- Building value linked to needs and wants.
- Assumptions; the negotiators curse!
- Scope of work.
- Price considerations.
- Terms of business.
- How to introduce the fee discussion.
- Personalities in negotiation.
- Barriers to negotiation.
- Know the competition.
- Co-drivers in a negotiation.
- Using choice.
- Negotiating strategies.
- Tactical options.
- Personal actions
Pre workshop
Prior to the training it is very useful to talk with your finance people to establish goals for recovery and the kind of behavioural changes the firm would like to see.
It is also key to make a decision on whether the participants should be grouped by practice area. This is because there can be significant differences in negotiating between practice areas.
Follow up support
We send each participant an email summarising their actions for implementation.
We also offer one to one discussions, or coaching.
Outcomes
The outcomes of this session are typically:
- Lawyers are reminded of best practice on when to discuss fees and on what to negotiate.
- Participnats gain a clear framework for everyday use.
- A more consistent approach in the practice area.
Participant Reviews
Professional Business Communication training
This class is 3 hours but it didn’t feel like it. It helped that the class is interactive and each person gets a chance to speak at one time or another. Martin did a great job keeping us engaged. I like the way he explained the topics and I genuinenly walked away with some great pointers regarding communication styles.
Martin was a great trainer!
He made the session interesting and engaging, and gave some really helpful tips for working effectively! Definitely one of the best trainers I’ve come across in sessions like this – would recommend.
"Working Effectively" module with Martin Chapman
Martin is a really friendly instructor whose enthusiasm came through even in a virtual training session. He aimed to create rapport among the attendees which I really appreciated. It was great meeting him!
Great workshop on Professional Business Communication
Really enjoyed how interactive this workshop was. I am now putting people into communication style boxes!!
Professional Business Communication - Very instructive and interactive
It was the perfect balance between theoretical and situational approaches.
Why use ITD for your negotiating fees training?
Tailored to your needs
Whilst we have a draft agenda we will work with you to ensure the session fits the needs of your firm.
Workshop discussion style
This is a workshop style with interaction to bounce around ideas and discussion on how they apply.
Work with your Finance team
To help with recovery we will work with your finance team and co-facilitate in the workshop if required.
Tailored to the practice group
We recognise that we need to adapt the content to reflect the negotiating differences in practice groups.
Client Case Studies
Other training courses for lawyers
Start a conversation about negotiating fees training
Call us on +44 (0)800 804 8086
