By Legal Futures Associate Perfect Portal
Client onboarding continues to be one of the most challenging stages of the client journey, frustrating both clients and law firms alike. Even after a client has decided to instruct a firm, the process of getting started is often slow, unclear, and more complex than it needs to be.
For many clients, onboarding is the first real test of how organised and communicative a firm is. Too often, it falls short. Multiple emails, phone calls, and forms can leave clients unsure of what’s expected, who to contact, or where they are in the process. What should feel like a straightforward next step can instead feel fragmented and difficult to navigate.
At the same time, client expectations have moved on. Across other services, digital-first experiences, clear communication, and real-time updates are now standard. Clients expect to complete tasks quickly, understand what’s happening, and see progress. When onboarding doesn’t meet these expectations, it can feel outdated and frustrating from the outset.
The impact is not limited to the client experience. Behind the scenes, inefficient onboarding creates significant operational pressure. When processes are unclear or unstructured, teams spend more time chasing missing information, correcting errors, and repeating tasks that could have been handled at the start. What should be a smooth transition from enquiry to instruction instead becomes time-consuming and disjointed.
These early inefficiencies often lead to delays before a matter has even properly begun. Missing details and back-and-forth communication slow progress, and those delays can carry through the rest of the work. At the same time, fee earners are pulled into administrative tasks, reducing the time they can spend on higher-value work and impacting overall productivity.
There is also a wider effect on how work flows through a firm. Inconsistent or incomplete onboarding information can lead to miscommunication, duplicated effort, and additional checks further down the line. While these issues are often spread across teams and harder to measure, their impact builds over time in the form of lost hours, slower turnaround times, and increased pressure on workloads.
Onboarding is not just an early stage of the process – it sets the tone for everything that follows. When it feels slow or disconnected, it shapes how clients view the entire experience. For firms, it can quietly affect efficiency, capacity, and the ability to deliver work effectively.
As firms look for ways to improve both client experience and internal performance, onboarding remains a critical area for improvement. Clearer, more connected processes at the outset can reduce friction, improve visibility, and create a more consistent way of working for both clients and teams.
