Reviewed by: David Laud
Author: Francesc Dominguez and Iolanda Guiu
Publisher: Editorial Bosch, S.A.
ISBN: ISBN: 978-84-9790-829-0
Price: £15.23 (Amazon e-book)

Despite my best efforts to like this guide it failed to impress. Perhaps I’m just not ‘tuned in’ to the authors’ particular style or perhaps it was the opening dedication that turned me off before I had a chance to start.

‘To open-minded lawyers who are consistent with the values of the profession.’

So if you are open-minded and you know what the consistent values of the profession are, you will gain great insight and value from this title.

Well, I failed immediately because I’m not a lawyer, just a humble marketing guy who has worked with the profession for more than 15 years.

Despite my lack of qualification to read this short e-book, I was able to extract a couple of gems which did ring true:

  • the importance of listening to a client rather than talking at them; and
  • the importance of moving away from traditional forms of selling and believing in the power of delivering excellent service.

Great sentiments, and there are many others. However they are lost, not so much in translation as in style and delivery. The book’s tone is also rather negative.

One area I would take specific issue with is costs. According to Dominguez and Guiu, lawyers should proudly protect their fee structure and not discount.

While in theory this may appeal to many lawyers who feel they are more than worth their hourly rate, we all know that the environment we now find ourselves in is one of fierce competitive pressure.

Of course, protect the profit margin, but there are times when re-evaluating your pricing structure can have the desired result and deliver even greater returns.

That said, I must confess, as I have also stated above, the publication does contain a number of useful suggestions, but it misses the mark in delivering on its promise of supplying a fully rounded answer as to why a client hires a lawyer.

It does provide useful observations however, but tries to cover far too much ground in a short book (it is just 75 pages long) to really offer true value.

It feels as though the book should have been either far shorter and bullet-pointed with case examples, or far longer to fully outline the ideas hinted at.

A final and surprising observation is that there is no summary. In any publication presenting ideas such as this it should be a natural end to the book in having a chapter that brings ideas to a logical conclusion.

So here is my summary: elements of sound legal practice and discipline are lost in the authors’ somewhat verbose and unfocused delivery.

It is akin to the sales pitch where the salesman misses the buying behaviour of his customer and carries on regardless before finally losing the business.

Clearly the authors know their subject, but communicating in this form is not supporting their cause.

David Laud is chief executive of Samuel Phillips, Newcastle upon Tyne

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