Tips for Using the "Royal-We" in Your Firm

We are continuing to talk about the various rules that we have in our office the enables us to "get the work done" in a timely, efficient and expeditious manner. "Getting the work done" is one of the five areas that make up every part of every business in the world. The other four parts are "clients or customers," "administration," "billing," and "getting paid."

This week's rule for "getting the work done," is the rule of the "Royal-we." I wish I could remember exactly where this rule came from, but unfortunately I only have a vague recollection of this having been something that was pounded into my head when I was an associate in a law firm in Kansas City in the early 1970's. No, I am not having a senior moment, I am sure I am just lulling off what must have been somewhat of a traumatic experience. I have this vague notion that some senior partner told me that one of the worst things that an associate could do was to write a letter using the word "I." I remember the senior partner trying to knock some knowledge into me, not too gently I might add, by stating something like "never, never, never utilize the word "I" when the word "we" can be used."

The concept was that when you wrote a letter on behalf of the firm you are not speaking from an individual point of view but rather from a collective point of view on behalf of the firm as a whole.

Over the years I have had opportunities to pass this wisdom on to people that I have worked with, but hopefully I have not done it with a "bludgeon" but rather with a "velvet glove." What I have tried to convey to everyone is a concept of a "firm" is much more marketable than the concept of an individual lawyer that we as lawyers need to constantly remind our clients that the whole, that being the firm, is substantially greater than merely the sum of its parts.

One of the examples I can give you with regard to this concept is the fact that we purposely put on our letterhead information that we believe is pertinent to our clients that may seem at first glance to be somewhat unusual. For instance, we have on our staff an individual who is admitted in South Africa and who is a barrister. We show this information on our letterhead. We have someone who has a CPA, someone who has an MBA and someone who has an L.L.M. All of this information is displayed on our letterhead. We have individuals who are not yet members of the bar, but nonetheless have a law degree and we show this on our letterhead as well. In short, what we are trying to do is to let our clients know as much about us as possible, so the whole is not only greater than the sum of the parts, but that it is perceived to be that way by additional information that is given to our clients.

Another example of this concept is the listing of the languages that our office has available. We have available Spanish, French, Dutch, Polish, Afrikaans, isi Zulu, isi Sotho and yes, even English. We do not necessarily specify who it is that has each of those languages available, but again, the concept is that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

Whenever a letter is written by anyone in the firm we always try to utilize the word "we" instead of the word "I." The letters are written by the firm on behalf of the firm.

One of the other issues we run into is the switching back and forth between these two words. I believe there is a convention of English usage that says that you should not mix these pronouns.

In short, the concept is to always try to put a concept out in front of your clients that you are a firm, an organization, yes, even a family and that you are collectively available to help the client with their legal needs.

Another way to breathe life into the "royal-we" is to introduce each and every client to each and every person in your firm that works with you or on your team or in your department so that the clients will know all of the people that are available to them to help them with their legal needs. What a great way to involve your staff with your clients and your clients with your staff. You need to encourage your staff to be co-problem solvers with you and you need to encourage your clients to feel free to call upon your staff at anytime. Many questions of clients can be more than adequately responded to by the staff so long as they do not give any independent legal advice.

One of the more subtle concepts of the "royal-we" is the concept of reinforcing with everyone in the law firm that you are all a collective marketing arm, administrative arm and production arm of the law firm and each and every one of us are all responsible for everything, it is just that some individuals have primary responsibility and other people have secondary responsibility. This concept of everybody being responsible for everything helps get things done much more efficiently and timely.

If letters are written using the "royal-we" if people in the office operate on a day-to-day basis as though the firm is that "we" then, a true esprit decor can be established and everyone can feel as it is way closer to "one for all and all for one," or more pointedly "we for all, and all for we," than it is each one of us trying to figure out a way to be the "lone ranger." Remember, even the lone ranger had Tonto.

Establishing a perception in your client's mind that you are an entity that has more than enough "horsepower" to get their legal matter resolved is not a bad thing. Any way that you can accomplish that mind set with your clients will be very helpful in the handling of any client's legal matter, and in garnering future legal business from clients that you have worked so hard to satisfy.

Next week we are going to talk about some rules for writing letters to people when files are opened and writing letters to people when files are closed. You will remember that we discussed this in some detail under the section on "clients or customers," but I believe it is important to revisit this with regard to this section on rules to see how the rules fit into both the area of "clients and customers" and "administration." I think you will find this interconnectedness between each of the areas that make up every business in the world to be quite interesting with regard to your law practice.

Talk to you next week.

Jim Wirken is a civil trial attorney and the Chairman of the Board of The Wirken Law Group in Kansas City.