What Can We Learn From Southwest Airlines?

Plenty.  Personally, I love Southwest Airlines.  I know that, this week, that's probably an unpopular point of view.  Too bad.  Here's what I love about Southwest:
1.  The fare includes everything.  There are no hidden charges:  no charge for baggage, for choosing seats, for breathing.
2.  The employees are friendly and helpful.  They have fun at work, and in a way that includes the customers.
3.  The flights run on time.
4.  For all the grousing about boarding by pass number, the boarding runs smoothly.  It's actually fun to compare numbers with other passengers because you get to interact with others.
5.  Most of all, I love that Southwest thought about flying from the passenger's point of view.

All of the above place Southwest head and shoulders above the other airlines.  Unfortunately, Southwest was so busy putting its best face forward to the public that it forgot to take care of the back office.  Planes that hadn't been inspected or serviced for years; maintenance neglected.  We all know what happened - it was front and center in the news this week.  A plane literally burst at the seams.  In one fell swoop, all of the good things Southwest does are forgotten.  As a result, Southwest has flight delays and cancellations all over the place as the company scrambles to inspect and repair its planes.  Passengers are afraid reluctant to fly Southwest.  What would it have cost Southwest to keep up with the repairs and inspections?  Not much, certainly much less than the loss of reputation and business.  I hope it gets its act together, because I still love Southwest.  Fortunately, I have a long memory; most customers don't.

What can we as lawyers learn from Southwest?  A lot, as it turns out.  When was the last time most of us looked at our practices from the client's point of view?  From what I've seen, not recently.   If we did, we wouldn't nickel and dime our clients for postage, faxes and copies.  We would be more pleasant on the phone, and more sympathetic and empathetic of our clients' problems.  We would make sure we remembered their children's names and ages.We would under-promise and over-deliver.

We would also have balance in our practices by looking at our practices as business people.  We would make sure contact information for everyone is correct everywhere.  We would proofread documents carefully to make sure they had no obvious errors.  We would make sure our equipment is up to date and repaired.  We would make sure everything we did reflected the care we provide for our clients.  We would treat everyone, clients, judges, masters, lawyers, as we want to be treated.

Bottom line:  Having the public love what you stand for means nothing if you don't deliver what the public wants.  What does your public want?