Relocation Services and Crypto & blockchain are two units that Quijano & Asociados launched this year. The bet arises to gain productivity and strengthen teamwork.

In recent years, the turnaround in the legal business has focused on orienting the model towards client service. In this line, a bolder strategy will consist of taking a model from full-practice to full-service, which implies considering legal as a component that coexists with other services (also provided by the firm), under a one-stop-shop logic and an active work with allies from other sectors beyond the legal one.

The bet has been materialized by Quijano & Asociados, a firm of Panamanian origin, with offices in Central America and Europe and representative offices in Asia.

The firm has initiated its testing through the creation of business units, multidisciplinary spaces that offer the client an integral experience. The idea arose from a key component in its organizational culture: the willingness to adapt to change. Sofía Johnson, the firm’s commercial and marketing manager, explains:

“Our organizational culture is focused or imbued with a willingness to adapt to change. From there came the vision of creating units under a one-stop-shop logic, where the client is served in whatever they need, whether it is buying a property, opening a business, bringing their children and finding them schooling, hiring professional staff, etc.”

According to Julio A. Quijano, managing partner of the firm, the decisions around the creation of the business units also follow the firm’s founding mandate: to capture the international client. In the second half of 2022 alone, the firm has launched the Relocation Services and Crypto & Blockchain units; two fronts led by the migration and fintech practices. These were designed in response to a trend-setting demand in the market.

“We continuously monitored what was happening in immigration matters: not only the regulatory framework, but also the demands reported by our corporate clients in this area, in addition to the profile of potential clients. A decade ago, the immigration practice contributed less than 1% of the firm’s income, but now, after the creation of the unit, the projects of the immigration practice are representing 8% to 9% of the firm’s income”, the lawyer points out.

The work with the units also seeks to get ahead of such a novel and disruptive matter as cryptocurrencies and blockchain. In Panama, for example, there is still no regulatory framework around the former, that margin that looms as a challenge is seen by Quijano & Asociados as a front of opportunity.

“We try to be reactionary to the needs of the market. For this, for example, we pay attention to instruments such as cryptocurrencies. Although in our country these have not yet been officially regulated, we have decided to gain time and experience in the matter. We know that it is only a matter of time before Panama enacts a regulatory framework in this regard, and by that time, when the real impact comes, we will already have a platform created to offer the service and benefit from this potential new wave of business”, explains Julio A. Quijano.

Productivity and teamwork

From the dialogue that this initiative may have with the organizational culture of the firm, it is crucial to assume its part from the vision of the business. Quijano & Asociados seeks to maximize its productivity, as well as to strengthen teamwork. The prelude to putting client service at the center of the business was the creation of the night shift, in response to the demand of clients from other latitudes.

“Putting customer demand at the center of the business is part of the firm’s configuration. I think it’s fair to go back to 2016, when we created the ‘night shift’ to cater to clientele and their demands from the East – Hong Kong, China, Japan. We realized that the service had to be continuous,” says Julio A. Quijano.

The creation of this shift and the subsequent implementation of a customer service department helped to encourage active listening to customers’ requirements and needs. Johnson highlights the value of multidisciplinary work based on these management and business decisions.

“Our action plan has focused on promoting teamwork that combines finance professionals, human resources professionals, legal specialists, etc. This interrelation results in a joint effort to meet the firm’s objectives, providing genuine support to the units,” he explains.

The specialist delves into and outlines the structure that the firm has developed and how, based on it, they manage to optimize the operational and strategic work.

“We have a group of lawyers who are in charge of customer service and providing legal services. However, we also have an executive management with four pillar managements that provide administrative support to the legal relationship. These are: administration and operations; technological innovation; finance and commercial and marketing. Through the support provided by these four divisions, it is possible to measure the performance of the units,” he points out.

Optimize and follow trends

The development of this modality of integral attention has brought excellent results. Quijano & Asociados would have managed to make the relationship with its clients more lasting and, at the same time, begin to attract those it saw as potential. The bet has included in its formula to heed the digital transformation processes that have loomed in the sector. Johnson explains how:

“With each business unit we have conducted or implemented Search Engine Marketing strategies and optimized our digital presence, reaching customers specifically for the units’ niche focuses. Very positive feedback has been reported. The attention from a business unit, which includes a team of experts available to the end customer has been a differentiating factor that has contributed to customer retention.”

he momentum gained by the creation of the units will be capitalized on in light of trends, say both specialists. The company, according to Julio A. Quijano, sees challenges as an opportunity for growth. It is from this logic that they will face what 2023 holds.

“The dynamics of the socio-political reality in the Latin American region generates opportunities for the Panamanian legal market, something that we hope to take advantage of from the front of advice on financial operations of various investors who are interested in the local market, also considering having the integrated service from the units in operation so far”.

For her part, Sofía Johnson assures that the bet will continue from the transformation front, something they do not see as problematic having reached this point where as a business they allow themselves to be bold.

“The continuous measurement of goals in dialogue with the strategic objectives and the sense of belonging driven in the firm, from the business units, contribute with a trend that will continue its course: that of digital transformation as an essential component for the positioning and evolution of the business.”

The original interview was conducted in Spanish, and may be read in Lex Latin’s website: https://lexlatin.com/entrevistas/unidades-de-negocio-tendencia-firmas-legales