Do You Know What Your Corporate Clients Are Really Thinking?
Corporate clients may be evaluating outside counsel and shifting work more frequently than you might think. A new survey from the Legal Executive Institute says more than half (58 percent) of corporate legal departments surveyed say they shift their legal work among law firms at least once every two years. Nearly one in five (18 percent) change how their work is parceled out among their outside counsel more than once a year.
Value is the most frequently cited reason for either changing law firms or how work is allocated among firms. Work quality, attorney responsiveness and cost predictability were the other reasons that were most often given.
In addition, firms may not necessarily know that they are not meeting those standards and are in danger of losing client work. Fifty-six percent of legal departments surveyed said they either will not tell a law firm why they’ve lost work or will provide a rationale only when asked.
