Over the course of my career, first as Corporate Counsel for Fortune 1000 public companies including PetSmart and RSC Holdings, and then as CEO of emerging growth companies and startups, I paid law firms somewhere north of $100 million in legal fees.
Not every firm got an equal share of that. Not even close.
The ones who earned a disproportionate amount of that business were incredible attorneys. Independently minded, classy, sharp, and strong. But they all had one other trait, and it wasn’t common. They genuinely understood my companies, my goals, the dynamics, and what winning looked like. They put themselves in my shoes and gave me sage counsel, not focused on the potential for a billable matter in front of them. They looked out for the long-term interest of my company. That’s how they solidified the relationship.
When I trusted a lawyer at that level, they became my first call for everything. If their firm did not have adequate expertise in the matter they would recommend me to respected lawyers outside the firm. They cared about getting me the best representation possible, even if it meant it was outside their firm. That kind of relationship compounds. It generates loyalty that no marketing budget can manufacture.
Those attorneys were not just service providers. They were trusted advisers. And they earned every dollar.
Now let me tell you what stuns me about T&E attorneys.
Clients who are drafting trusts with law firms are typically high-net-worth individuals. We are talking about people with several million dollars or more in assets, business interests, real estate, family wealth that took decades to build. These are exactly the kinds of individuals that law firms spend enormous resources trying to reach and develop relationships with. Corporate development, sponsorships, referral networks, events. The pursuit of this client profile is aggressive and expensive across the profession.
And T&E attorneys already have them in the room.
Not just in the room. In the most intimate professional context imaginable. These clients have shared their finances, their family dynamics, their business structures, their fears, and their hopes for the people they love. The T&E attorney is not a vendor to them at that point. They are in the arena, a key player on the client’s team at one of the most consequential moments of their financial lives.
And then the binder gets handed over, and the relationship ends.
No follow-up on whether the trust was actually funded. No check-in when circumstances change. No presence in the client’s life at all, until the client reaches out on their own, if they ever do.
Our survey data indicates that more than 80% of clients never hear from their T&E attorney again after binder delivery.
If the T&E attorney is working within a general practice firm, leaving the backdoor open is almost criminal. The marketing department needs to realize the goldmine that sits at the hands of the T&E group.
I have sat across the table from attorneys who would have given almost anything to have that kind of access to that kind of client. And T&E firms are letting it walk out the back door every single day.
The attorneys who earned my loyalty over the years stayed connected. They looked out for my company’s best interest. They understood that the relationship was the asset, not the individual matter. They knew that a client who trusts you is worth infinitely more than a client you have to go find.
T&E attorneys have already done the hardest part. The trust has been established. The relationship is real. The client is sitting there, life evolving, assets moving, business interests changing, estate planning needs compounding over time.
The back door should not be open. There is no good reason for it.
The best T&E firms have figured this out. They have built a process that keeps clients engaged after documents are signed, guides them through actually funding their trusts, and stays present as their lives change. That process does not have to be complicated or manual. It just has to exist.
TrustFunder was built for exactly this. If you are ready to stop letting your best clients walk out the back door and start building the kind of relationships that compound over careers, let’s talk. Check out our demo and schedule time to discuss what that looks like for your firm.
Kevin Groman is an Arizona attorney and is currently the founder and CEO of TrustFunder, a legal technology platform built for T&E firms to close the execution gap so client’s trusts are actually funded. He spent the first two decades of his career as Corporate Counsel, with public companies such as PetSmart and RSC Equipment Rentals, before serving as CEO of an emerging growth energy services company. He has since built startups, founded a venture capital fund, and focused on philanthropic work. He is also founder of Crown Canyon, a Paradise Valley ultra-luxury estate community. He is an Adjunct Professor at ASU, a member of the Arizona Supreme Court Commission on Access to Justice and Executive Director for the nonprofit The Welcome to America Project.
