Seeing The World Through Clients' Eyes

New research into the views of In-house  Counsel
The PACE Partnership is delighted to sponsor ‘Seeing the world  through clients’ eyes 2004’ a study of the FTSE 100's view of their legal  advisers by Nisus Consulting.

Research overview
Since Nisus  Consulting’s last independent research into FTSE-100 in-house counsel’s views  of their legal advisers, much has changed in the legal  profession.  There  have and continue to be regulatory changes, a rise of procurement involvement  in panel reviews, an increase in US firm  representation in the UK, continued  consolidation in the Nisus  thought it was time to review the  research they conducted in 2002 and see  what had changed about in-house  lawyers‚ needs and their views of their external advisers.  Face to face  interviews were conducted with 41 senior  lawyers within FTSE-100 companies  between February and June 2004. Once again  we were delighted to sponsor the  research.

Some of the key findings of law  firms

Strengths

  • Larger law firms have a  good breadth and depth of expertise and smaller firms offer good flexibility  
  • The sector scored well  against three of the 5 most important strengths sought by FTSE 100 companies  and firms‚ approaches to pitches has improved 
  • Overall client service  satisfaction has improved slightly since 2002

Weaknesses

  • Poor differentiation  between law firms could lead to more frequent panel reviews
  • Law firms lack  innovation, commercial focus and proactivity 
  • They need to adopt a  more tailored approach for pitches, overall account management and marketing  to keep clients happy 
  • Traditional marketing  tactics are ineffective (and wasting law firm resources) 
  • US firms are perceived  to be more expensive and aggressive 
  • There is a poor use of  technology to add value to the client  relationship

Threats

  • There will be an  increase in the use of procurement to assess legal costs 
  • The decision-making  panel for law firms to impress when trying to win a client’s business will  expand 
  • There will be ongoing  fee-resistence and a pressure to streamline processes and commoditise  certain aspects of legal services

To find out more information  about the research and/or to purchase a copy of the report,  please contact Tim Nightingale or Karlee Rippey at Nisus Consulting , tel:  020 8891 4466, web: www.nisus.net

 

LeadershipBusiness DevelopmentClient Relationship Management