CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Client Experience In The Legal Sector
By Pauline Warui
My life has rotated around the corporate world . Until recently I did not know how snobbish my type was to matters legal and the client experience offered beyond the organized systems in great organizations . I had worked with the best and even though they would delay a contract here and there , they always showed thick documents that made them look cleverer than the rest of the crop . Their Sesquipedalian ways would always win the day .
To be honest , the first day I stepped in a courtroom I was in my mid-forties . Ordinarily no Kenyan wants to deal with the court rooms in Kenya for the morbid fear of injustice perhaps emanating from the newspapers that so often feed us their opinion .
My case was simple . It was an inheritance matter being ratified in a small town . My first shocker was the sheer population hanging in the corridors of the courtrooms . The diverse smells were obviously heavy on the nose as we waited for the magistrate to settle . Another shocker was how many times we would stand and sit as he came in , went for break and departed for lunch before hearing our little matter .
But the main shocker was to see how meek the learned friends mingled with their not obviously opulent clients despite their dark blue to black attire coupled with the famous red striped ties . I had always assumed the work station of the mighty legal giants was as posh as they looked . It took this experience for me to draw an interest in the legal profession . I spoke to a few more clients who would tell me horror stories or may I calmly refer to them as grandly poor experiences .
To my utter consternation Client Experience from most advocates and the whole judiciary framework is a foreign word . Advocates are purely transactional . To engage a client , the process is the same from one advocate to the other , male or female .
To my utter consternation Client Experience from most advocates and the whole judiciary framework is a foreign word . Advocates are purely transactional . To engage a client , the process is the same from one advocate to the other , male or female .
Advocates are the most charming and humble professionals when ushering you to their office as a new client . In-fact they will drive to your premises even if you operate down at Sheikh Karume road if you sound like you have potential to pay .
The first meeting has their charm offensive buttons all lit . The language is very simple and sweet . English language will only be used if you are wearing designer shoes and even then it is the kind of naked English we earthlings speak .
If the meeting is at their premises , the client is politely offered a cup of tea and humbly requested to state their issue . Evidently if your suit looks more expensive than his , the boardroom is quickly availed so that you pay some levy for the dark leather seats .
Upon stating the matter , the charmer becomes serious as he evaluates all manner of scales to apply the legal fees . Suddenly big English words start dropping in buckets and the guy who was speaking your mother tongue is now quoting Latin words from his university days .
Your simple matter suddenly gains new form of complexities coated with grim hope . It ’ s at this moment that the client is requested to open a file which literally means get your wallet wide open as big words cannot be exchanged on an empty stomach . The seasoned viper strikes .
What you don ’ t get to hear as a client is the undertone clearly stating that it takes a lot of reading and investment to crack all
26 MAL37 / 20 ISSUE