DLA Piper’s Book Club Builds Client-Centric Culture

When I first proposed the idea of a book club focused on client development, I had no idea if the program would be well-received.

The idea first came up during a strategic planning session at the end of 2022. Guided by our purpose to positively impact our clients, our people, and our communities around the world, we asked ourselves what we could do to facilitate connection and how would that enable us to better serve our communities and clients?

Those conversations were the inspiration for DLA Piper’s Between the Lines initiative, a firm-wide book club that focused on client service and growth.

We wanted to develop a program that fostered connection, provided a framework for collaboration, and facilitated coaching. Anchored around Andrew Sobel’s “It Starts With Clients,” a well-known business book centered around client service, we developed a curriculum and published a reading schedule to our internal program hub.

We set up firmwide biweekly remote gatherings and built content that combined the client development concepts in the book with tools that were bespoke to DLA Piper. A third of DLA Piper’s US attorneys and business professionals, or roughly 950 people, chose to participate, reflecting our culture of client service and a genuine desire to connect.

Lessons Learned

Through the course of the book club, we focused on defining value propositions and identifying networks that could be leveraged to solve complex problems.

Early in his book, Sobel makes the distinction between an expert and an adviser, noting that while experts focus on what they know, advisers focus on how what they know will benefit their clients. This distinction underpins the importance of being able to articulate our value proposition.

Being asked “What do you do?” presents an opportunity to be seen as a trusted adviser if the answer is framed in terms of the impact to the client rather than simply the process or tactics employed. We discussed the importance of being known internally and externally to ensure our clients benefit from the breadth and depth of our firmwide expertise.

And we doubled down on the importance of excellence in client service by launching our firm Value Hub as a central repository of resources that enable our attorneys to better spot issues and introduce solutions.

Connection Creates Culture

With Between the Lines, we explicitly acknowledged that people connect in different ways. We offered live and recorded access to our firmwide sessions which allowed everyone to participate no matter where they were on a given day.

But we didn’t stop at the firmwide delivery model. We encouraged participants to form core groups, a tactic employed by book clubs and academic institutions alike. Over 35 of these groups were formed, both in-person and remotely, providing opportunities for colleagues to meet face-to-face and delve deeper into issues around client service.

Offices across the Americas hosted launch parties and regular in-person viewing sessions where colleagues could watch and discuss the firmwide sessions together.

Each week we asked a diverse group of leaders to record personal videos outlining how they leverage the various concepts we studied. These videos reinforce that while we anchor in a common set of values and a firmwide purpose, we employ a diverse set of tactics in pursuit of our goals.

Our approach to Between the Lines was very much in line with our strategy of providing our people a wide range of work choices, as well as the structure and consistency that ensures we’re working together seamlessly for the benefit of our clients.

Firm leadership was vocal in support of Between the Lines, touting it as an important training and development resource. A range of individuals stepped up to lead core groups and build connections and culture.

As one of the largest law firms in the world, one of our strengths is our ability to closely collaborate with teams around the world, regardless of location. Programs like Between the Lines reinforce that strength.

As businesses everywhere wrestle with how to build engagement in a world with remote work, our firm joined in a shared dialogue across a hybrid workforce and fostered a shared vision of client-centricity.

In short, we nurtured a culture of connection with clients at the center.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg Industry Group, Inc., the publisher of Bloomberg Law and Bloomberg Tax, or its owners.

Author Information

Erin Stone Dimry is the chief marketing and development officer at DLA Piper.

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