Research shows that most lawyers think they know what their clients want – but their clients don’t always agree. How can lawyers and their firms truly understand the client perspective? How can they know what their clients are really asking for? What do lawyers need to know in order to get – and stay – hired?

What Clients Want from Law Firms combines the collective perspectives of clients in order to focus the lawyer’s mind on their end goal – providing a service that people want and will pay for. Exploring dynamic new approaches to the client–lawyer relationship, the contributors take on topics as broad as ESG, diversity, ethics, and AI, revealing what clients really want from law firms.

Written from the perspective of those who engage law firms in their business – and from sectors as diverse as banking, sport, and entertainment – this book explores the importance of client relationships, listening and understanding problems, and what clients really want from their trusted advisors.

Joanna Day
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joanna-day-70498440/

Joanna Day has over 35 years’ experience as an in-house lawyer and started her career when she joined Abbey National Building Society in the wake of the 1987 “Black Monday Crash”. Joanna soon became immersed in the transition of the organization from building society to bank, and its many acquisitions of big-name UK financial service providers such as Scottish Mutual, Alliance & Leicester, and Bradford and Bingley. As director of legal services, Joanna was responsible for the management of legal spend by or through Santander UK plc and its legal supply arrangements through the creation and management of effective legal panels. In recent years, Joanna has parachuted into a number of interim general counsel roles in the financial services sector, which has enabled her to build upon her expertise of dealing with the issues common to all financial services organizations, ranging from the regulatory aspects to managing internal and external resource.

Robert Dilworth
https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertdilworth/

Robert Dilworth is a legal innovation thought leader. He is managing director and associate general counsel at Bank of America. His legal career began with education in the US and France, followed by six years of Wall Street law practice at Cleary Gottlieb. This led to in-house roles at Deutsche Bank in New York and Frankfurt, then his current position at BofA in 1998. He is a founding co-chair of his legal department’s AI steering committee. Robert's expertise spans derivatives, banking, and securities law. He participated in the evolution of the derivatives market from its bespoke beginnings to today's standardized and automated landscape. This experience underscores the urgent need for innovation in the legal sector, particularly in response to increasing workloads, regulatory complexity, and data-intensive processes. As the Liquid Legal Institute’s ambassador to North America and the financial services sector, and as a Digital Legal Exchange faculty advisor, Robert is committed to sharing his insights and advocating for legal profession modernization. He recommends upgrading one's "human operating system" (hOS) and believes in the power of personal example to inspire change across generations of lawyers. His vision includes greater data literacy, more scalable solutions, and a shift towards client-centric practices that make law more accessible and humane.

Dr Heidi K. Gardner
https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidi-k-gardner-ab5b825/

Dr Heidi K. Gardner is a sought-after advisor, keynote speaker, and facilitator for organizations across a wide range of industries globally. Named by Thinkers50 as both a Next Generation Business Guru and one of the world’s foremost leadership experts, she is a distinguished fellow at Harvard Law School and former professor at Harvard Business School. She is currently the faculty chair and instructor in multiple executive education programs at both institutions. Heidi works extensively with her team at Gardner & Co., partnering with boards, executive teams, and other senior leaders to boost performance by embedding the principles and practices of smarter, agile, cross-silo collaboration within those groups and across the broader organization and ecosystem. This results in concrete, quantifiable performance improvements. Altogether, Heidi has authored (or co-authored) more than 100 books, chapters, case studies, and articles. This includes bestselling books Smarter Collaboration: A New Approach to Breaking Down Barriers and Transforming Work (2022) and Smart Collaboration: How Professionals and Their Firms Succeed by Breaking Down Silos (2017). Her research received the Academy of Management’s prize for Outstanding Practical Implications for Management, and has been selected five times for Harvard Business Review’s “best of” collections.

Adrienne Gubbay
https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriennegubbay/

Adrienne Gubbay is a senior commercial lawyer with experience advising across multiple jurisdictions in complex transactions. Adrienne is currently working with Heritage and People’s Choice bank as a senior legal counsel. Adrienne holds degrees in business and law and has worked extensively in transactional matters over the course of 19 years in both London and Sydney. Adrienne has a deep interest in legal operations, creating effective working partnerships with business colleagues, and developing a commercial mindset in legal practitioners. In a culture of “more for less”, Adrienne is keen to find pragmatic solutions that effectively address the risk priorities of her business colleagues, whilst ensuring the legal team can sleep at night. Adrienne has worked across multiple industries, including facilities management, building, construction, PFI/PPP projects, energy projects, film and distribution, and most recently, consumer banking.

Helen Hamilton-Shaw
https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenhamiltonshaw/

Helen Hamilton-Shaw is the member engagement and strategy director for LawNet, a mutually-owned national network supporting SME law firms with collective purchasing, best practice, shared knowledge, and specialist expertise. With over 20 years of legal sector experience, an MBA from Aston Business School, and as a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, Helen brings deep insight into the strategic and business management challenges facing SME law firms. Known for her creative and strategic thinking, Helen continually enhances the experience and value for LawNet members, driving key developments to ensure the network’s proposition remains relevant. A recognized thought leader in client experience and innovation, she led the creation of the network’s award-winning Excellence Mark, which allows firms to differentiate through measurable client care and experience, now integrated into LawNet’s ISO9001 standard. The Excellence Mark has been recognized for its sector impact, receiving a Modern Law Award in the Supporting the Industry category. Helen also leads on LawNet’s annual flagship thought leadership conference, part of the network’s extensive learning and development program, which was recognized for its contribution to the sector with an award in the same category.

Csilla Ilkei
https://www.linkedin.com/in/csilla-ilkei-74b90210/

Csilla Ilkei is an international thought leader, exceptionally skilled in translating science-backed research into pragmatic plans. During her more than 20 years as global manager and knowledge leader at McKinsey & Company, she was instrumental in unearthing global economic, business, and industry trends. With her experience living on three continents and working in 40 countries, Ilkei possesses an inspiring ability to partner with leaders to recognize potential challenges before they become obstacles to success. Her dedication to helping executives, and others, create an inclusive environment that sustains collaborative behaviors is incomparable. Ilkei has designed and delivered countless innovative products and programs that guide executives, across a wide variety of sectors and regions of the world. As insights director at Gardner and Co., she rigorously researches, meticulously designs, and skillfully leads programs for C-suite executives. Her perseverance in challenging status quo thinking and commitment to leaning forward into beneficial changes foster bold and dynamic learning environments that advance strategic goals. Ilkei holds an MBA from Corvinus University of Budapest.

Natasha Norton
https://www.linkedin.com/in/natasha-norton-gaicd-4806814/

Natasha Norton is a business leader and innovator, whose career covers APAC/North Asia, specializing in operations, partnerships, and growth strategies across the legal and tech consulting sectors. Currently working with KorumLegal, a Hong Kong headquartered ALSP, Natasha combines a strong background in stakeholder and people leadership to work with businesses that seek growth, change, and a desire to create impactful solutions. Natasha has also contributed significantly to the sports and LGBTQIA+ communities in business and advocacy, with a number of board roles that reflect her passion for women in sport and the importance of equity for both communities. Natasha continues to look for opportunities to innovate and push the boundaries in business as she encourages others to think of what is possible.

Claire Rason
https://www.linkedin.com/in/clairerasonbdexpert/

Claire Rason is a consultant, podcaster, and accredited individual and team coach. She founded Client Talk (a coaching-powered consultancy) to help firms enhance their relationships both inside the firm, as well as externally with clients. Claire is skilled at creating business and client development strategies for professional services companies alongside the provision of the training and coaching needed to bring these to life. However, what sets her apart is her understanding of the psychology that sits behind all of this. She works with professionals to help them communicate better, whilst embracing change and challenge. She is passionate about seeing more parity in professional services firms and works with firms to create systemic change.

Paul Roberts
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-j-roberts/

Paul Roberts is the CEO and co-founder of MyCustomerLens, the AI-powered client listening platform for professional services firms. Before co-founding MyCustomerLens, Paul worked with financial and professional services firms including MBNA Europe and PwC Australia, helping businesses create customer insights that improved client acquisition, profitability, and retention.

Thomas Santram
https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-santram-32487113/

Thomas Santram is the senior vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary of Cineplex. Inc. Thomas joined Cineplex in 2008 and oversees all legal, corporate, governance, and securities matters for Cineplex and its subsidiaries. Prior to joining Cineplex, Thomas was in private practice and represented public and private companies, large financial institutions, crown corporations, and all levels of government. Thomas serves as the chair of the board of directors of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Movie Theatre Association of Canada. Thomas has a BFA (Honours) from York University and an LLB from The University of Western Ontario. He was called to the Bar in 1995 and is a member of the Law Society of Ontario.

Jenifer Swallow
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenifer-swallow-a1a4482/

Jenifer Swallow advises and coaches tech founders, GCs, and policy makers on legal and strategy matters. With a background in high growth environments, she is formerly general counsel at the fintech unicorn Wise Plc, product and human rights lead at Yahoo! EMEA, and CEO of the government-backed organization LawtechUK. She has won multiple awards, including for her work in governance and ethics and is on the advisory board of the Post Office Project, is a member of the sub-committee of the civil justice body the OPRC, and contributes to a range of initiatives towards the advancement of legal services for society.

Ian White
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-w-a411321/

Ian White has been the chief legal officer and company secretary for both listed and major private companies. While he spent most of his previous career as a lawyer, he has spent some time working as a strategy consultant. He now works as a consultant, coach, trainer, and facilitator. His previous experience has led him to develop an expertise in corporate governance, working with boards on effectiveness and enhancement. He also works with directors and lawyers on development. Ian holds an MBA from Ashridge Business School, a coaching qualification – being both an APECS (Association of Professional Executive Coaching and Supervision) Certified professional executive coach and a CEDR (Centre for Dispute Resolution) accredited mediator. He is also the director for the Cranfield non-executive directors program.

Terezka Zabka
https://www.linkedin.com/in/terezkazabka/

Terezka Zabka is entering her fourth season with the San Diego Padres and second as vice president, general counsel. She originally joined the Padres in May 2021 as associate general counsel. In her current role, Terezka oversees all operations of the legal department, from advising ownership and handling baseball and player matters, to contracting partnership, event, sponsorship, and marketing opportunities, to managing litigation and overseeing general ballpark operations. Prior to joining the Padres, Terezka worked as an associate general counsel at Viasat, a global satellite and communications public company for six years in various departments such as mergers and acquisitions, aircraft wifi, strategic sourcing, satellite development, and telecommunication expansion worldwide. Before attending law school, she worked in Prague for a software engineering company as the marketing and public relations manager in charge of the EMEA regions, including the former Eastern Bloc.

Heidi K Gardner