Firm Overview

We strongly believe that clients are the ultimate judges of the quality of our legal services. This is why we launched a client audit program in 1990. It is designed to obtain candid appraisals of our services as well as suggestions for improvement, so we can continue to deliver the highest quality legal services.

Under the program, we annually audit a cross section of our clients. The audit measures our performance against a client’s expectations, as perceived by the client.

Different clients have different expectations. In addition, a client’s expectations may vary from matter to matter or may change over time. The client audit program helps us understand these expectations and tailor our services to fully meet them. In addition, the audits help us learn more about our clients’ business plans and goals.

Clients we have audited consistently praise the audit program. They find it extremely valuable to assess their legal needs, review how well we meet them, and work with us to determine how we can make our services even more valuable for them.

If you participate in this audit program, you will meet with a senior lawyer from our firm who has not performed significant legal work for you. This lawyer will ask what, in addition to legal expertise, you expect from our firm, and how well we meet your expectations. You also will be asked about other areas, such as responsiveness, accessibility, work management, billing processes and reasonableness of fees. Of equal importance, you will be asked for your suggestions on how we can improve our services.

After this meeting, members of our management team will review your feedback and develop a written action plan to enhance our service and address any issues or concerns you raised during the meeting. We will then contact you to discuss the firm’s action plan and assure that we are responsive to your needs.

Over the many years this audit program has been in effect, it has often produced a better understanding of our clients’ needs and the steps we can take to fully meet those needs.

If you are a client of the firm and would like to participate, please contact Michaella Johnson via e-mail or at 503.553.3226.

In addition to the client audit program, we encourage all clients to use our online client survey tool. This tool allows you to provide timely input regarding our services — both what we are doing right and suggestions for improvement.