THE LAW FIRM SERVICE DESK REPORT

THE LAW FIRM
SERVICE DESK
REPORT
www.sherrybevan.co.uk

WELCOME
The Law Firm Service Desk Report
I have been involved with the service desk in law
firms and professional services for more than
25 years. Since early 2012, I have worked as an
independent consultant, facilitator and coach.
Previously, I was at Intelliteach Ltd, leading law
firm service desk outsourcer, and launched their
first international office. From 1999 to 2009, I
held various IT service management positions at
global 100 law firm McDermott Will & Emery. As
Global Head of IT Customer Service, I created the
firm’s centralised service desk in Chicago for 2,300
users in 15 offices. Before McDermott, I was
Arthur Andersen’s UK Tax & Legal Technology
Manager, responsible for all aspects of IT services
for the UK Tax & Legal Practice.
I have always been passionate about the delivery
of excellent customer service and the pivotal role
played by the Service Desk. Being able to analyse
and share the available data, to improve customer
service, has always been very important.
This report is borne of a long-time frustration that
most service desk surveys and reports are not law
firm specific and therefore the data therein is
somewhat irrelevant to our environment.
If you have ideas or suggestions on what you
would like to see in future Law Firm Service Desk
Surveys, please contact me directly at
srb@sherrybevan.co.uk.
As an independent consultant, I offer consultancy
and coaching including:
Service desk health check and benchmarking
Team and individual coaching
Workshops on a wide range of management,
customer service and leadership topics
Review and analysis of service delivery
performance
Change management and communications
programmes
Project management of service delivery
initiatives
Please do not hesitate to get in touch for an initial
exploratory conversation about how my
independent and objective approach will deliver
results for your firm.
Sherry Bevan
Director - Sherry Bevan Consulting Limited
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Executive Summary
The data presented to you today is based on responses from more than 30 law firms to a law firm service
desk survey conducted during January and February 2013. Further insight was gained from interviews
with Law Firm Heads of IT, CIOs, Service Delivery Managers, Recruitment Agencies and ITIL Consultants.
The responses collected represent a variety of law firm sizes, locations and environments. The firms who
responded range in size from 35 to 5000 users with a huge diversity in the number of staff working in IT,
from 2 to 230.
This survey represents 25,000 law firm users and 61,000 calls per month (731,000 per year).
The Law Firm Service Desk Report findings include:
How law firms measure performance
How law firms measure customer service satisfaction
How many law firms have clearly defined Service Level Agreements and Key Performance Indicators
and how many publish these to the business
What options we give to our users to contact the service desk
What are the essential service desk competencies
The ITIL debate
Average salaries and staffing ratios
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

To measure or not to measure
How law firms measure performance
Every service desk should measure performance. It does not matter how sophisticated or how basic
your tools, you cannot determine performance levels or demonstrate improvements, without effective
measurements. What is even more important is that you do manage what you measure, in order to
continue to improve and strive for excellence.
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
What performance measurements are in place for law firm service desks
1st time fix or
resolution
Average
abandon
The most common performance measurements are the 1st time fix or resolution rate, the abandon rate
(i.e. number of users who hang up or abandon the call) and the live rate (i.e. how many seconds does it
take to answer the telephone). Law firms have high expectations: lawyers bill by the hour and therefore
time on the telephone is lost billing time.
What is surprising is that only 43% of firms measure customer service satisfaction. Is this not the most
important performance indicator? If your users are not happy with your service, how do you find out
before it is too late? What alternative solutions will users unearth for themselves?
ONLY 43% OF FIRMS MEASURE
CUSTOMER SERVICE SATISFACTION
Live rate Resolved at
first level
Yes Plan to No
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Time
in queue
Customer
satisfaction

Measuring customer service
When we dig deeper into how often law firms measure user satisfaction, we find that 30% of law firms
never ask their users to rate customer service and 19% only measure this once a year, as part of the
appraisal process or in a firm annual survey. Is this often enough?
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Never Annually Monthly or
quarterly
However often you do (or do not) measure customer service, it is essential that you respond
immediately to any negative comments or feedback. Users need to be confident that when an issue is
reported, that it will be followed up. If you do not follow up, users lose confidence in the service desk
management and will soon stop providing feedback.
A good service desk manager is not scared of dealing with negative feedback. Service desk staff need to
know that they will be held accountable however they also need to know that they have their manager’s
support if a complaint is unreasonable. Positive feedback is just as important because it reinforces
positive behaviour.
30% OF FIRMS NEVER ASK THEIR
USERS TO RATE THEIR SERVICE DESK
EXPERIENCE
How often law firms ask users to rate their service desk
Daily or
weekly
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Every call

Does the law firm service desk have clearly defined Service Level Agreements (SLAs)?
Just over one third of law firms have clearly defined Service Level Agreements, and of those only 36%
have published these to the business.
39%
Does the law firm service desk have clearly defined Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)?
24%
38%
25%
36%
38%
And if YES, are they
published to the business?
Very few law firm service desks have published their KPIs to the business - why is that? Is it the difficulty
of communicating them? Is it a touch of arrogance on the part of IT in believing that the business will
not understand SLAs and KPIs? Is it that the service desk does not want to set itself up to fail? Or is the
business truly not interested (because when it comes to the crunch, the lawyer just wants it done now)?
Clearly defined and jargon-free SLAs and KPIs enable greater understanding between IT and the business,
46%
leading to stronger relationships, and powerful allies for IT in challenging times.
What actions will you take today to improve IT’s profile within the business?
ONLY 36% OF FIRMS HAVE CLEARLY
DEFINED SERVICE LEVEL
AGREEMENTS
And if YES, are they
published to the business?
30%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
18%
15%
56%
36%
Yes
No
In progress
Yes
No
In progress

Options to contact the service desk
What options do you provide to your users to contact the service desk
As you would expect, the most common options offered to users to contact their service desk are by
telephone, by email, and by walk-up or walk-in. Law firms are experimenting with self-service though it
remains to be seen how successful this will be in the law firm environment.
Yes No
Within
6 months
Whatever options that you provide to your users, how effectively do you capture the data? For example,
how are you recording the incidents or service requests received by instant messaging? How efficient is
it to log a request by email compared to the telephone? Often users do not provide all the detail you
require in order to fulfil their request. Industry data reported that 78% of ’live’ calls could be resolved in
the first contact compared to only 11% of incidents logged by email .
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Within
12 months
In the
future
Telephone 96.6% 3.4% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
Email 100.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
Self-service 35.7% 39.3% 10.7% 7.1% 7.1%
Chat / instant messaging 15.4% 38.5% 11.5% 15.4% 19.2%
Walk-in or walk-up 93.1% 6.9% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
36% OF LAW FIRM SERVICE DESKS
OFFER SELF-SERVICE TO THEIR USERS

Competencies
The essential service desk competencies
Staffing the Law Firm Service Desk is a skill in itself. The Service Desk Analyst requires a mixture of
interpersonal skills, technical expertise and problem-solving talent.
The table below sets out the most highly valued skills and competencies in service desk staff. The
challenge then is how to recruit and retain such talented individuals.
Customer service
Friendly and professional telephone manner
Communication skills
Problem-solving
Technical knowledge
Interpersonal skills
Business understanding
Team player
Knowledge management
Coaching and mentoring
THE MOST VALUED COMPETENCY IS CUSTOMER
SERVICE FOLLOWED CLOSELY BY TELEPHONE
MANNER AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Is ITIL a waste of time and effort for law firms?
The ITIL debate
Very few law firms, outside the largest, have fully embraced ITIL. Yet, ITIL certification and experience is
almost a pre-requisite now when law firms recruit service desk or service delivery managers.
We asked survey respondents which of the ITIL disciplines they currently manage or plan to manage in
their service management tool.
This data reflects that incident management is typically the first discipline to be implemented, followed
by problem management and change management. Is that the right order of priorities?
Is ITIL too complicated or too much work to implement? The ITIL supporters would argue that the
benefits far outweigh the cost and effort involved.
THE SECOND MOST POPULAR ITIL
DISCIPLINE TO IMPLEMENT IS
PROBLEM MANAGEMENT
Yes No
Within
6 months
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Within
12 months
In the
future
Incident management 93.1% 6.9% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
Problem management 75.0% 7.1% 10.7% 3.6% 3.6%
Change management 51.7% 17.2% 20.7% 3.4% 6.9%
CMDB/Asset management
40.7% 22.2% 14.8% 7.4% 14.8%

How much have law firms invested in ITIL
Even if your firm has not adopted ITIL in full, no doubt you are aware of the framework. IT leaders want
to introduce good working practices because it means a more cost effective service delivering to a higher
standard. Nearly all firms who responded to the survey have invested in ITIL training and certification.
However, often the ITIL training is at a high level and confined to those in leadership or management
positions. Is this just a box ticking exercise? Or is it simply that this is seen as the best value for money
in order to introduce the concepts and terminology?
What are the benefits of ITIL for law firms?
ITIL provides a common language so that all the IT teams have a
shared understanding of the terms used. One manager reported that
ITIL had introduced a much higher level of professionalism to the team.
ITIL allows managers to harvest and nurture the knowledge within IT. It facilitates a more organised and
more business-like approach.
Supporters argue that ITIL makes sense because it is logical and process-driven. It enables IT to tell the
“ITIL makes sense ... at the
end of the day, best practices
reduce lost billable hours.”
Other benefits reported are:
improved documentation
increased ability to report on a problem
easier to report and understand component failure
enhanced communication
increased professionalism in the team
shared understanding of terminology
business what, when and why. Communication is more open and
flows more easily.
improved change management processes and therefore the service desk is better informed
RETURN ON INVESTMENT (ROI): THE
INTRODUCTION OF BEST PRACTICES
REDUCES LOST BILLABLE HOURS
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
“As a manager, I feel more
organised and the team has a
more business-like approach.”

Hours of cover
The law firm service desk profile
Typically only the largest firms provide 24x7 cover however some medium size firms offer 24x7 through
outsourcing. Most firms offer extended business hours e.g. 8am to 7pm and a few until 10pm or 11pm.
Paying a premium to recruit with law firm experience
Although most firms are open to recruiting staff without specific law firm experience, many firms do
state a preference or requirement and are willing to pay a higher salary. The annual salary reported for a
service desk analyst ranges from £17,000 to £36,000; the average annual salary being £24,875. As you
would expect, salaries are higher in central London.
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Staffing ratios
Avg calls
p/mth
Avg calls
p/user
Avg calls per
analyst p/mth
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Avg number of
users per analyst
Avg number of
users per IT staff
All firms 2257 2.42 285.6 126.3 32.3
Firms with
250-500 users
Firms with
500+ users
Law firm service desk analyst
average annual salary
> £20k £20-24,999 £25-29,999 £30-34,999 £35-39,999
883 2.42 200 85.3 32.4
3382 2.32 359.4 159.5 31.7

About Sherry Bevan Consulting Limited
Sherry Bevan is the lead consultant and director of
Sherry Bevan Consulting Limited. She has over 25 years
experience in the legal technology arena and has held
senior service management roles in the global law firm,
financial and professional services sectors. Her clients
include small, medium and large firms.
Before launching her own successful consultancy in 2012,
Sherry worked for the leading legal service desk provider,
Intelliteach, opening their first international office in 2009.
As UK Business Manager, she was responsible for the dayto-day
management of the London service desk including
recruitment, staffing, and skills development. Sherry
managed all UK client implementations. While at
Intelliteach, she instigated the industry-leading Guru Guide,
undertaking the research and data analysis for this, and
other Intelliteach articles and publications.
Prior to Intelliteach, she spent 10 years with McDermott
Will & Emery, a 2,300 user global 100 law firm, fulfilling
various IT service management positions. Before
McDermott, she was Arthur Andersen’s UK Tax & Legal
Technology Support Manager, responsible for all aspects of
IT services for the UK Tax & Legal Practice.
Sherry has been a regular speaker at legal IT conferences
and service desk events; most recently at the Service Desk
Institute law firm industry group meeting . She was a
founding member of the UK Document Excellence Group
(UKDEG).
Sherry Bevan Consulting offers consultancy and coaching
including:
Service desk health check and benchmarking
Team and individual coaching
Workshops on a wide range of management,
customer service and leadership topics
Review and analysis of service delivery performance
Change management and communications
programmes
Project management of service delivery initiatives
About the Law Firm Service Desk Survey
As an independent IT consultancy, Sherry Bevan Consulting,
collects data on law firm service desk trends and
challenges. This is part of an on-going effort to provide
clients and peers with intelligent data specific to legal IT.
Sherry believes that better information can accelerate
service delivery improvements.
The data presented in the Law Firm Service Desk Survey is
based on responses to a survey conducted in January and
February 2013 across a variety of law firm sizes, locations
and environments, as well as interviews with law firm
service desk managers, recruitment agencies and ITIL
consultants.
This survey represents 25,000 law firm users and 61,000
calls per month (731,000 per year).
We gratefully acknowledge the support and assistance of
those who responded to the initial survey, and participated
in the background interviews.
If you have ideas or suggestions on what you would like to
see in future surveys, please contact Sherry directly at
srb@sherrybevan.co.uk.
For more information on the services that
Sherry Bevan Consulting Ltd can offer:
Visit www.sherrybevan.co.uk
Email srb@sherrybevan.co.uk
Tel +44 (0)7905 826267
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