About One Three Four

Simon Carter, founder and principal consultant

The company name and mantra

What we do, who we do it for,
and how we do it.

We help firms have more productive dialogue with their clients

We help firms improve know-how updates so that their clients get the updates that they want – whether the know-how updates are e-bulletins, investment-research reports, web-pages, printed copies, or seminars.

Better, more client focused, know-how helps firms to improve their dialogue with clients. And dialogue strengthens relationships.

Who we do it for – investment banks and law firms

Our clients include Citigroup, Clifford Chance, Herbert Smith, Lovells, the Practical Law Company, and Taylor Wessing.

How we do it; making simple changes that clients want

Even simple changes (clear summaries that highlight business impacts, headlines that clearly state what’s happened, tables that compare the new rules with the old ones) are rated as a definite improvement by clients.

More sophisticated improvements include helping practice groups to develop specific issue-tracker updates and hot-topic web pages, and using automated Word templates that remove the need for a desk-top-publishing stage.

Typical project process – from consensus-building to implementation

We re-work real updates and briefings to show the improvements that can be made, and then review these ideas inside the firm to build consensus. Ideally we review the new ideas with clients too.

Inside the firm we test the proposed changes with the lawyers and PSLs who write the updates, as well as the business development, marketing, and know-how teams.

We then help firms to implement the changes using a mix of templates, training and support. We’re used to working closely with PSLs, technical teams, and training resources.

Survey

Are clients' unmet know-how needs a burning platform?

We're running a simple survey to find out what law-firm marketing, business development and know-how professionals think?

Which of these statements do you agree with most strongly:

I think this is important; clients really are demanding change.

Everything's fine - I don't believe that clients are interested in this.

To take the survey click here. (It will take no more than three minutes.)

Article

Client-focused know-how, and the changing role of PSLs

"Any change to a firm's know-how will change what is required of PSLs. A client-focused approach... demands skills that are different to those of the traditional PSL."

To read the full article on Legal Week's website click here.