The BTI Client Service 30 – the 30 law firms corporate counsel rank as delivering the absolute best client service – buck the prevailing market trend and gained market share in 2012. Fully 67% of this elite group are gaining market share at competitor expense. Advantage: client service.
The most impressive are the 4 firms in The BTI Client Service Hall of Fame – each of whom remain on The BTI Client Service 30 for more than 10 years – Jones Day, Morgan Lewis, Sidley Austin and Skadden – all market share gainers.
Corporate counsel report another 13 firms with substantially improved client service performance. These include Kirkland & Ellis, Littler Mendelson, McGuireWoods, Seyfarth Shaw, Thompson Hine and Epstein Becker. The broad range in size and scope of these firms proves there are few structural obstacles to delivering superior client service.
Overall, BTI’s exclusive research with more than 240 corporate counsel uncovers the 332 law firms (of the 650 law firms serving Fortune 1000 and large clients) standing out for one or more aspects of client service excellence. Of these 332, 17% are new to The BTI Client Service A-Team this year and 31% are returnees. The large number of newcomers and returnees illustrates how law firms are trying to outdo each other in client service.
Corporate counsel describe the best performers as those law firms who:
- Understand their client better than any other — not just understand, but show the best understanding
- Exhibit new approaches — in staffing, billing, strategy, technology and communications
- Redefine how the process of legal services is delivered — taking a new look at how work gets done and points of client interface with the goal of streamlining
- Educate individual clients on company-specific needs and issues — highly customized briefings and tools
- Provide new, high-powered client-centric educational forums and networking opportunities — events where clients speak to each other more than listening to law firms speak
- Build project management systems from the client perspective — bringing the client into project management — ensuring a client-centered experience
- Engage in client outreach to bring client thinking and feedback into the culture of the law firm — up to three levels of client feedback conducted by independent third parties, leadership and relationship partners.
Get full details on the results, including who, why and what law firms are doing by clicking here