No, not the band 10 Years After. This is a post of about a pleasant surprise. Something that worked as hoped, as intended. I recently got a call from a client with whom we worked 10 years ago. She was not the primary client then; she represented one of several defendants in a large case. Her role in the litigation was to represent a subcontractor in a post-hurricane construction claim. After the research, we sent our written report to her, and the other attorneys on the case, in a notebook which is in our color scheme and has our logo on the cover. The title page is our letterhead with logo, address, phone number, etc. The pleasant surprise was that, after 10 years, she was in a position to hire a trial consultant on another case and, she went to her bookshelf, took that 10 year old report off the shelf, and called me. That “branded” item paid for itself. It served as a reminder about Magnus, and provided easy access to our contact information. This has always been one of my goals with these hard copy reports – as trial consultants we have so little to provide clients in the form of a tangible “deliverable” that I want to ensure that what we do have to send leaves a positive lasting impression. Though many of our clients, and their “end clients” (e.g., insurance adjusters) are “paperless” and request reports be sent electronically, I’ve always insisted on sending something tangible as well. And, I was pleased to have that practice validated. Similarly, I was pleased when, on one of our last visits with a long time client before he retired, he showed Melissa and me the 40+ reports he had from us on the 40+ cases we did for him in the over 20 years we worked with him. He kept every one! We’ve been told by other clients that these reports become permanent reference materials to them that they utilize in many cases. Though the reports are case specific, the fact that they take on a life of their own reinforces the value of what we provided to them.
Having just finished typing a report for the client David mentions, I will say I’m glad our clients read, then save, our reports. It takes many days of deep thought and concentration for me to write reports for Magnus’ clients. And, due to the so called modernization and high tech nature of our work environment, something that I used to do, with considerable help from an excellent typist/office administrator, I now type by myself. This means that, not only do I have to think of amazingly clever and helpful information to tell our clients, I have to slowly and arduously type everything that gets included in the text portion of our report. Thus, I am doubly grateful that someone is paying attention to my work! In all seriousness, however, Magnus’ detailed reports are something that set us apart from our competitors. Our clients have always told me how much they appreciate the efforts I make in learning about their case and in providing insightful assistance that will help them maximize the strengths of their case. I have never, in fact, received any criticism from a Magnus client about our written reports. Many clients have told me they save our reports and refer to them when they have a similar case. Some of our clients jokingly tell me they approach writing voir dire questions with the thought, “What would Dr. Pigott suggest?”. The client who retired that David mentioned is one of my all time favorite clients, Kim Hart, who is among the most savvy of Magnus’ clients. Kim saved all of the reports he received from us for the 25 years we worked together, discarding them only upon his retirement from the practice of law. The fact that our reports speak for themselves, in both excellence and longevity, is one of many reasons I have continuously strived to be the best jury/trial/litigation consultant this social psychologist can be. And, it’s great to be appreciated!
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