Premise: Client service teams (CSTs) are the foundation upon which the Firm helps to meet the clients' needs and provides efficiency and consistency in delivery of services to clients.

Rationale: The Firm recognizes that many of the client service teams have evolved through the initiatives and foresight of individual partners. We are committed to providing additional resources to these existing teams without creating another layer of bureaucracy or interfering with their natural evolution. The Firm recognizes the efforts of those partners who are members of successful teams and encourages them to share those "best practices" and "success stories" with other partners and instill these practices among the associates and other Firm professionals. The Firm provides a mechanism by which resources can be allocated to support existing teams and allow them to be used appropriately to create new teams.

Definitions: Client service teams are those combinations of 2 or more partners operating through 2 or more practice groups to meet the needs of a specific client.

Although there are client teams operating solely within a specific practice group to fulfill a specific need of an individual client, they are limited in the scope of their engagement and for a variety of reasons do not provide extensive opportunities for the extension of other services to that client. In addition, within the Firm there are industry or specialty task forces which may or may not include active client relationships but whose primary purpose is to follow industry trends and anticipate the needs of clients in those industries.

Characteristics of Powell Goldstein's Client Service Teams:

1. All members who need to be on the team are on the team;

2. All members have equal access to client information;

3. The client has easy access to all members of the team and to client information;

4. The client has trust and confidence in all team members;

5. Team members routinely exceed the client's expectations;

6. Team members are well informed about the client's industry;

7. Team members are well informed about the client's needs and expectations and they all have copies of the client's business plan;

8. The team leader communicates client needs to other firm practices;

9. Team members know each of their roles and fulfill them seamlessly;

10. The client service team and the client establish mutual goals as defined in a strategic plan which is updated annually for enhancing the client's business plan;

11. The level and quality of service rendered by the team to the client is defined by the client as exceptional; and

12. All team members are focused on helping the client to achieve their financial and business goals.

These teams are led by a client engagement partner to whom the client looks as the point person for the team. In some cases, the CST requires a person to serve in a coordinating position, particularly if there are multiple client engagement partners involved with the client. The team has a shared purpose and goals that are established for the client's benefit, or in the case of industry teams, goals that are established for developing clients in that industry and working in the best interest of that industry.

Client Service Team Benefits for Clients

The client service teams in the Firm have a number of benefits to clients. The entire focus of the program is to provide a higher level of service to existing clients that will translate into 1) more satisfied clients; 2) building on best practices within the Firm; 3) reducing costs of service delivery; and 4) adding more value to the services we provide to clients.

Benefits to client include:

1. Having a team of lawyers more familiar with all aspects of the client's business;

2. Being more responsive to client requests for services;

3. Providing resources to the client such as extranet access to client information;

4. Promoting workshops with the client service team and the client representatives to explore client needs and set mutual goals to provide more targeted services in more efficient ways;

5. Surveying the client to determine their needs and concerns about current service levels and designing solutions that will make the Firm 'easier to do business with';

6. Consolidating legal services or delivering services in ways that will lower their costs;

7. Improving communications to clients so they are fully informed regularly on status of matters; and

8. Delivering more targeted information on their industries to help them stay informed on issues that may impact their meeting their strategic business objectives.

To learn more about the Firm's Client Service Team program, contact Erin Corbin Meszaros, Chief Marketing Officer, at emeszaros@pogolaw.com.