Law Departments are “Going Small”

A new survey conducted by Globality and The Lawyer Research Service[1] discovered that legal departments of major international companies are three times more dissatisfied with large law firms than with small firms.

The survey “Global Trends in Hiring Outside Counsel” was targeted at international organizations with a minimum annual revenue of $1 billion, and in-house teams of 1-500 members. 300 general counsel and senior lawyers were interviewed about their experiences with large as well as small firms.

GCs (General Counsels) stated that they sourced legal providers from their pre-existing personal and professional networks, as a result of which, they mainly worked with large law firms.

However, it became evident that their dissatisfaction with such large firms (19%) was three times higher than with small ones (6%). They indicated that they were interested in outsourcing legal services to small firms, but found them difficult to locate. 

The companies expressed a preference for small legal providers on account of better client service, agility, innovation, ease of evaluation, and better expertise. They also mentioned that the high cost of services provided by large law firms and the lack of involvement by senior counsel members was a push factor, increasing their inclination towards small firms.

Many interviewees said they were enthusiastic about working with smaller firms, since they believed they would be treated as high-priority clients, with attorneys going the extra mile to meet their expectations.

This declaration of dissatisfaction with the status quo by popular global legal departments suggests that there will be a significant migration to smaller legal service providers in the future.

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References 

[1] Global Trends in Hiring Outside Counsel. Globality. October 2017.