What Do In-House Counsel Really Want from Outside Law Firms?

1
What Do In-House Counsel Really Want from Outside
Law Firms?
Global Outsourcing Association of Lawyers (GOAL)
USA Contacts Sulaiman KhodrEmail 
sulaiman_at_connect-goal.com Mark AndrewsEmail 
mark_at_connect-goal.com Contact 1-646-381-2009
2
According to Legal Week Intelligences 2013
Client Satisfaction Survey, in-house counsel are
most interested in receiving quality legal advice
and services from their law firms. Out of a
possible high score of 10, survey respondents
gave a score of 9.5 when rating the importance of
the standard of legal advice provided. Service
delivery came in second, rated at 9. Cost was not
as important and was the only rating to decrease
in importance from last year, down to 7.6 from
7.7. The 2013 survey polled more than 1,400
senior in-house counsel on how they rate their
external law firms. The ratings were gathered
from 106 UK international, city and national law
in-house counsel, with most firms located in the
United Kingdom, European Union or United States.
Respondents were asked to rate the importance of
a number of issues, including their satisfaction
with their legal service providers. Responses
were scored on a 10-point scale with the higher
score meaning higher import or satisfaction. And,
this year, for the first time, the research
looked at the various legal process outsourcing
(LPO) options that are available to help firms
maintain quality and control costs.
Regarding LPO, the importance of outsourcing was
given the lowest importance rating at 4.4, and
the flexible use of workforce was at 5.2.
However, when asked to rate overall satisfaction
with outsourcing, the numbers were higher at 5.7
and 6.0. This suggests that, where law firms have
outsourced legal work, clients have been
surprisingly pleased with the outcome.
3
A resistance to LPO utilization remains with some
law firms, but the survey indicates that chief
operating officers at Fortune 100 companies have
embraced this model more than any other group.
General counsel and their outside counsel will
have to fall in line. According to Legal Week
reporter, Charlotte Edmund, More to the point,
it demonstrates the uphill battle that law firms
face to convince clients that cheaper work
doesnt always mean an inferior outcome. In
Charlottes article on the survey results titled
Turning the tide clients still believe you get
what you pay for, she opines, The results show
it is the larger and arguably more sophisticated
clients that need the most convincing. Among this
group there is almost a level of snobbery that
comes with instructing the best and biggest law
firms, and that is not an attitude that will
change overnight. The results of this survey
are consistent with similar survey results from
Corporate Counsel magazine, which we recently
blogged about. In its first-ever 2013 Legal
Process Outsourcing Survey, which poled law
departments to ascertain their views on LPO, the
report revealed that LPO is slowly being adopted
by the legal industry and the majority of those
who have outsourced are satisfied with the
experience. This may mean that LPO will gain
greater acceptance and more traction in the
coming year. Certainly, 2014 will be an
interesting year for the market. Check more info
about New York city lawyers association and New
York association of lawyers
4

• Thank You

Support Offices- USA Global Outsourcing
Association of Lawyers (GOAL) 1235 Puerta del
Sol, 100 San Clemente, CA 92673 India Global
Outsourcing Association of Lawyers (GOAL) Office
No. G-19, Ground Floor, Krishna Apra Business
Square, Plot No. D-4,5 6, Netaji Subhash
Place, Pitampura, New Delhi, India 110034
UK Contacts Christopher Cruise Email
christopher_at_connect-goal.com Contact
44-203-514-1437 Memberships Kevin
Lynch Email kevin_at_connect-goal.com Media GOAL
welcomes media experts, journalists and editorial
staff to our web and physical events. To
register, please contact at media_at_connect-goal.co
m.