Q&A: Cultural translation matters for your clients

What’s the biggest difference between practicing law in Mexico and practicing law in Texas? 

In Mexico, relationships come first; results are equally important, but they won’t feel like victories if the relationship is cold or too structured. Part of that comes from the role lawyers traditionally play in Mexico. Businesses often see their attorney as a trusted advisor who is involved in a variety of decisions, not just legal ones. The lawyer may be consulted on negotiations, business strategy, family dynamics affecting the company or other issues that have both legal and practical implications. As a result, the attorney-client relationship can become quite close over time. Clients want to know their lawyer personally, and they often expect their lawyer to know their business, their family and their long-term objectives.

I still remember a dispute involving two brothers. One operated a bakery while the other had financed the business. The conflict eventually became legal in nature, but at its core it was really a family disagreement. The solution did not come from a legal argument alone. It required understanding the family dynamics and, ultimately, involving their mother in the conversation to help facilitate a resolution.

Whoa! That’s not something you would see in Texas.

Texas business owners tend to place greater emphasis on efficiency and results. They certainly value communication, but they are often less concerned with having constant access to their attorney as long as the work is being done effectively and professionally.

How do you communicate this difference to clients who are involved in a dispute, or wanting to expand their business, across the border?

You have to be a cultural translator.

Many people assume that if they have a translated contract or someone who speaks both English and Spanish, they have solved the communication problem. In reality, some of the biggest challenges in cross-border business have nothing to do with language. They have to do with culture, expectations and how people interpret what is being said.

A simple example is the word “ahorita.” Depending on the context, it might mean right now, in a few minutes, later today or simply sometime in the future. The words are understood, but the expectations are different. The same thing happens in business every day.

A cultural translator does more than translate language. A cultural translator understands how to deliver a message so it will be received effectively by the other side. They understand how business relationships are formed, how negotiations unfold, how decisions are made and what motivates people in a particular market.

I keep hearing you mention the importance of relationships, particularly in Mexican law. Is that emphasis on relationships how you came up with your firm’s Chief Legal Officer (CLO) program?

My firm created our CLO program because we believe businesses need more than legal answers. They need strategic guidance that helps protect what they've built and position the company for growth.

To me, a Chief Legal Officer should be a member of the leadership team, even if they are not a full-time employee. We don't want to be viewed simply as outside lawyers who answer legal questions. We want to be trusted advisors who sit alongside the business owner, understand where the company is going and help guide decisions that support both growth and asset protection. That's what we mean when we use the term Chief Legal Officer.

And to get that level of service, or build that sort of relationship, your clients in this program pay a subscription fee. Aside from the relationship, what are clients getting for that fee?

It depends on the client, but we do a lot of basic legal housekeeping like keeping meeting minutes, maintaining company records and making sure taxes are filed correctly. 

We built the offering around these sorts of tasks precisely because they aren't glamorous. Most business owners don't lose money because they missed a sophisticated legal strategy. They lose money because they overlook the fundamentals.

In fact, this is personal to me. When I started my own firm, I made the mistake that many entrepreneurs make. I thought I could handle certain administrative and tax matters myself. I didn't think I needed professional assistance for every aspect of the business. That decision resulted in a payroll tax issue that quickly became a six-figure problem. Suddenly, I found myself dealing with the IRS and scrambling to resolve something that could have been avoided with the right systems and guidance in place.

That experience taught me an important lesson: the most expensive problems are often the ones people think are too small to worry about.

How do you price this without losing your shirt on the client who calls every day?

Flat fees make sense for the CLO program because the program doesn’t lead to a collection of individual phone calls but rather a long-term business relationship.

Like any recurring fee model, success comes down to understanding capacity, setting expectations and having enough experience to predict the level of support clients will need. We have systems built into the program that help us manage communication and service levels without allowing the relationship to become unsustainable.

More importantly, we don't view the CLO program as a stand-alone product. We are primarily a business litigation and transactions firm. The CLO relationship allows us to become deeply familiar with a client's business, their operations and their risks. Over time, that naturally leads to additional legal work, whether that's contracts, transactions, employment matters, dispute resolution or litigation.

In many ways, the CLO program is the beginning of the client relationship, not the end of it.

Thursday's newsletter: How the midterms shook up state courts
The most recent Q&A: Betting on your own divorce
In the vault: Every firm growth and marketing lesson we've published for small firms this year