Cheif Legal Officer Survey

The perfect storm for #OldLaw?

In my last post I mentioned that I may post some further thought I had on this year’s Altman Weil Chief Legal Officer Survey.

One further comment on the Survey findings I did want to make relates to what I consider to be ‘the perfect storm’ brewing for the so-called #OldLaw or Traditional Law firm model.

And the best thing about this post is that my point can be made by showing you the following three easy to read charts from the Survey:

Chart 1

QUESTION: What are the chances you’ll be spending more money with me – your outside counsel – in the medium to long-term?

aw-1

[click on chart to expand]

ANSWER: Not an awful lot!

Chart 2

QUESTION: If you are not giving me – your outside counsel – the work, then who are you giving it to (ie, who is my main competitor)?

 

aw2

[click on chart to expand]

ANSWER: Yourself!

Chart 3

QUESTION: When you do give me work, what are the chances that you are going to ask me for a discount?

aw3

[click on chart to expand]

ANSWER: Very likely indeed!

Have to say, reading these three charts I’m left with the feeling that outside counsel are in for a very rough ride unless they are 100% focussed on what they want to do, and who they want to do it for!

RWS_01

The BIG takeout from this year’s Altman Weil CLO Survey

Altman Weil published the 2016 edition of its Chief Legal Officer Survey overnight Australian time. I may well post some more of my thoughts on this year’s content in the coming days, but what I wanted to share with you immediately is what I consider to be one of the most damning charts I have ever seen as it relates to business development, legal spend, and client relationship management:

altman-weil-clo-survey

That’s right, when asked the question:

Considering the ten law firms that receive the largest portion of your outside counsel spend, in the last 12 months how many of those firms have provided you with an analysis of spending data that was useful to your law department?

An overwhelming majority of CLOs (73%) responded “none”.

So, if you work for a law firm looking to differentiate your services; then the answer is it really isn’t that difficult.

RWS_01