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Offering In-House Counsel New
Objective Data for Evaluating Law Firms
decision point
Jacob Wackerhausen/iStockphoto
Corporate counsel and other buyers of legal services frequently
express their need for a robust and independent resource that can
help them identify, evaluate and select law firms. They can learn
about law firms from their Web sites, consult online directories to
evaluate their credentials and review legal publications to read
about their specific accomplishments. What is missing, though, is
objective data in a standardized format that enables true apples-toapples
comparisons of law firms. In-house counsel are asking for
this type of reliable, objective data as a foundation on which they
can build their buying decisions.
A
t LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell,
we have conducted extensive
interviews with in-house counsel
around the world, asking them
what resources would be most useful
to them in the outside counsel selection
process. This research has highlighted
a critical need for reliable data based on
feedback from other buyers of legal services
regarding their outside counsel. After all,
the first resource that virtually any corporate
counsel uses when looking to hire a law
firm is the old-fashioned referral from one
of their peers.
For example, some of the tasks that buyers
of legal services told us they would hope to
accomplish with this elusive objective data
about law firms include:
■ Select outside counsel with confidence,
using qualitative information from peers
on key criteria for evaluating law firms;
■ Identify and evaluate the credentials of a
law firm about which little is known,
such as a firm in a remote jurisdiction;
■ Receive a true sense of a law firm’s
demonstrated expertise by considering
the feedback from other in-house counsel
as additional data to supplement an
evaluation of law firm profile data,
LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell Peer
Review Ratings and other information;
■ Save time with the law firm evaluation
process; and
■ Justify the selection of outside counsel
to the CEO, board of directors and
other key executives with an objective
indicator of the firm’s experience and
credentials.
We took this feedback to heart and
partnered with in-house counsel to develop
a new information resource that would
help meet these stated needs. LexisNexis
Martindale-Hubbell Client Review is a
new product that is based on confidential
surveys completed by current and former
clients of law firms that provide client
recommendations of a law firm’s quality of
legal representation, client service and value
for the money. Developed in collaboration
with in-house counsel worldwide, Client
Review also includes recommendations by
practice area and industry.
Just like our Peer Review Ratings, Client
Review is a service to the legal profession
facilitated by Martindale-Hubbell. All
survey responses are anonymous and not
attributable to specific respondents.
We view Client Review as part of the
next generation of decision support data
from Martindale-Hubbell. These reviews
aggregate feedback from law firm clients on
a wide range of critical factors that buyers
of legal services have told us are the key
items that shape their selection of outside
counsel. This is the kind of objective data
that informs in-house counsel’s evaluation
of those qualitative aspects of a law firm
on which only their in-house counsel peers
can comment.
Client Review was developed from a broad
spectrum of corporate counsel input and is
prominently featured on www.martindale.com.
No other comparable client review tool
exists.
To make this offering as useful as possible
to in-house counsel, we need your help.
Participation of in-house counsel as active
reviewers of law firms is essential as we
build this new professional resource that
will be widely available to buyers of
legal services on www.martindale.com, our
industry-leading Web site for information
about lawyers and law firms. Your continued
participation in the process will provide
you and your peers with a credible source
of objective and anonymous input that
you can rely upon as you evaluate, compare
and ultimately select outside counsel.
To help us continue building a useful
and objective information resource
to aid you in your evaluation of prospective
outside counsel, please contact us at
http://www.martindale.com/clientreview/
reviewer/ and learn how you can submit a
Client Review of a law firm.
Barry Solomon, Esq., is vice president
and general manager, LexisNexis
Martindale-Hubbell. He can be reached
at barry.solomon@lexisnexis.com.
JULY 2007
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