You tell me that I am one of your key clients – you say your place on our panel of legal advisers is vitally important to your firm as it gives your people stimulating work, we add kudos and attract other clients to your portfolio and the volume of fees we pass your way is invaluable. You often say the words ‘key client’, but to be frank I do not know what this means to us.
We have a number of advisers on our panel and it is often very difficult distinguishing between them. They all have the technical capabilities to do the work we need. A couple stand out, I suppose, because of the personalities involved. But my legal department does not feel any real loyalty or affinity to one firm. You cannot differentiate one in terms of service excellence and added value. And so I suppose that is why I find it strange when you say how important my company is to your firm. I do not have any ‘key’ legal advisers.
