We're selling trust, but clients aren't buying loyalty

Here's what keeps me up at night. Lawyers often claim to be "trusted advisors," yet client retention in our industry is abysmally low. If we're so trusted, why do clients jump ship for a referral from their chatty neighbour or favourite grocery store clerk?

The disconnect is glaring. We've built our entire professional identity around being indispensable advisors, yet most clients see us as shady, expensive, and interchangeable. 

Maybe it's time we stopped patting ourselves on the back and started asking some hard questions, like:

⚖️ Are we really providing trusted advice, or just legal compliance?

⚖️ Do our clients understand our actual value, or are we failing to communicate it?

⚖️ Are we solving their real problems, or just the legal ones we're trained to see?

The legal profession has been ring-fenced for centuries, yet we're losing ground to clients who increasingly see legal services as a commodity. That should terrify us—or at least motivate us to completely reimagine what we do.

At Outsiders Law, we're betting on transparency, technology, and client-first thinking. Because if we're not building genuine trust, we're just expensive consultants with cool credentials.

What's your take? Are lawyers really trusted advisors, or are we just telling ourselves that story?