What your Clerk knows about your practice

Your clerk knows everything about your practice. Whether this is information shared depends entirely on you. 

“Better to get hurt by the truth, than comforted with a lie.”

Khaled Hosseini (attributed)

The crucial role of your clerk

Your clerk plays a crucial role in your practice and not just because she sends work your way.

It’s because she knows things about your practice which could help you progress to the next level.

What clients are saying about you

Your clerk is on the phones taking calls from clients every day. This gives her a unique insight into what clients are looking for in a barrister.

If the client says no when your clerk proposes your candidature, she will usually ask why.

In that conversation, your clerk gains insight into your reputation and marketability.  Whether she passes on the insights to you depends on the relationship you have created with her.  

If your relationship is one of master-and-servant, a savvy clerk will keep quiet.  In that case those valuable insights will remain between clerk and client, and hidden from you.

Your reputation with other members of Chambers

An experienced clerk will have had an ear bent on more than one occasion about goings-on inside Chambers.

As a junior barrister, one source of work is from your own QCs. An assurance of your usefulness from a Clerk to a QC is sometimes all that’s needed to deliver a rich seam of work.

Your clerk probably has a good idea of your reputation among the QCs in Chambers. 

Whether she recommends you depends on the feedback she receives from clients about your level of client service.

What the market will pay for you

Unless your practice exists to serve clients which are funded by the government, there may be scope to negotiate on your fees. 

Your clerk negotiates fees every day and has more insight than you into what your peers are charging.

If you believe your rate is below market, and doesn’t represent the value you provide, it’s likely that your clerk already knows the answer.

There may be a good reason why she isn’t charging you out at a higher hourly rate.

If you have built a good relationship with your Clerk, she will give you an honest answer you can act on.

Closing the information gap

Sometimes, I see a gap between what a clerk knows the market says about a barrister and what the barrister thinks the market says. 

The only way to close this information gap is to create a relationship of trust with your clerk so she can give you the information you need to change things for the better.

Growing your practice in the Digital Age

In the Business of Barristering, we guide you to design a strategy that will help you raise your profile, connect with clients and grow your practice.

Start today and become the barrister who clients ask for by name.

By Heidi Smith
Creator of Jurilogical.com