Clients have more competing litigation priorities than ever. Employment, IP, and Commercial stand out as client’s top litigation concerns. Workforce related issues keep coming up from employees and regulatory agencies. IP is a top concern for the industries benefiting from the pandemic. IP clients have big cases pending or on the near-term horizon.

Commercial and contract litigation also rise to the top. Many matters delayed during the pandemic, impacted by volatile commodities, or supply chain issues are all kicking in.

Class actions remain a threat as clients are waiting for more to develop. False claims are gaining more client mindshare as is Real Estate litigation.

Clients are managing the risk of Privacy litigation through compliance and planning. This is likely understated as new data privacy regulations kick in state-by-state.

The top priorities may not get the top spending — but it does reveal what and how clients are thinking; an excellent starting place for a client conversation. You can learn which litigation segments are targeted for major increases in outside counsel spending — by practice and industry — in the newly released BTI Litigation Outlook 2022.

3 out of 4 clients say law firms’ virtual pitches are getting better. Virtual pitching skills will become increasingly important as 44% of clients intend to rely on virtual law firm pitches long after offices reopen.

But clients note some virtual pitches improved more than others. It breaks down like this:

• • 6% indicate the pitches are vastly better
  • 38% characterize these pitches as improved
  • 31% see marginal improvement

Of the many things the pandemic will mark, it will include an update of the pitch deck and approach as we knew it. They will grow shorter and more dynamic. Attorney teams will be more cohesive when presenting and they will have a more polished look — adding gravitas and credibility. Clients tell us this is a proxy for how you might approach the matter-at-hand.

The 6% of firms boasting vastly better virtual pitches have already changed their approach. A few of the more impactful changes clients note include:

• • More streamlined pitches — shorter and more direct
  • Less text-heavy — requires less reading and offers the opportunity to be more engaged in the conversation
  • Attorneys are more comfortable pitching in a virtual environment
  • Teams are more organized than they were (all are logged in when the potential client logs in)
  • More engaging — discuss a few trends or new developments

Clients have less patience than ever for a pitch. Short, direct, and engaging pitches beat other approaches.

Top legal decision makers also tell us they not only noticed — but were impressed — by the firms with identical backgrounds with firm logos and all. Seems silly — but uniformity in look suggests a more unified team.

The lessons learned here can you help you win some of the upcoming surge in work — which we discuss in detail in the BTI Litigation Outlook 2022 and the BTI M&A Outlook 2022.

Women corporate counsel stood out for being exceptionally satisfied with their jobs last year. No more. Satisfaction plunged over the last 12 months. And job satisfaction for men is no better.

This is the first sign of the great resignation among corporate counsel. The numbers look like this:

Only 33% of women corporate counsel currently report exceptionally high job satisfaction, down from 58% last year. This compares to 39% for men, virtually unchanged from last year. The primary reasons include:

Elusive Opportunity
While most women see an opportunity for their career — only 25% see a clear and excellent career path at their current company. The same is true for 35% of men. The clients who see a career path at their own company tend to be in high-growth industries — tech, life sciences, segments of financial services, and disruptive companies.

Exhaustion
Increased workload, longer hours, and pandemic fatigue are taking their toll.

Work-life Balance
Demands in the office keep ramping up while demands at home do the same. Top legal decision makers say there is just not enough time to go around.

Remote Work Conflict
The hybrid model provides flexibility but some feel they pay the price in lack of opportunity by not being visible — and the workdays somehow become longer.

Peer Support Challenges
Last year these top legal decision makers valued their ability to provide counsel and support to peers — but increased family needs and commitments make this harder to give.

Never-ending Workstream
These corporate counsel are up for a challenge but the continued deluge doesn’t have a visible endpoint. It can look ominous — especially if your law firms aren’t performing at peak client service levels.

The unintended impact on law firms is enormous. Every ounce of patience a client loses for their job costs law firms 2 ounces of patience — if not more. Plunging (and already low) job satisfaction puts law firm behavior on display like an IMAX movie — one oversight takes on enormous proportional impact on service and the relationship.

We recommend the following to make your client’s life easier:

More Voice-to-Voice Communication
Listen twice as hard and filter out the things you can do to lighten your client’s load. We know outside counsel are busier too — but this is all about keeping clients. Almost everyone can find the time — skip 4 emails to make time for a call.

Be Streamlined in Your Approach
Highlight the crucial decision a client may need to make, bullet point the key issues.

Be Timely With all Matter-Related Communications
Clients chasing attorneys only add to the frustration.

Client Feedback
You can easily find out how happy your clients are in their jobs in a 7-minute online survey. You can pinpoint clients who need help or just check on their status. Either way — you will know who needs special attention and where you can help.

Become the Antidote
Prioritize client service. This is the value-add which makes your client’s life easier and makes you an ally.

You can make your client’s job more rewarding by:

• • Asking how they are doing — and make clear your question is more than a greeting
  • Engaging in meaningful conversation to provide intellectual challenge
  • Sharing how you see corporate counsel career opportunities develop over time
  • Convening a corporate counsel development workshop — including setting personal and career goals

Focus on clients where you have a relationship. You have a chance to build a stronger relationship, help clients enjoy their job more, and increase the chances you will join them on whatever career journey they may take. And if they stay, you will be the confidant and enjoy access to the best work.

Money talks. Mostly.

As we discussed, only 17% of associates are in it for the money alone. The rest want career building skills and substantive matters for the longer-term pay off.

But law firms have to match market pay rates. Consider this money the ante. And, more money can’t hurt either — especially if they are not expecting it.

BTI research shows not too many associates were expecting this latest round of bonuses. It breaks down like this:

• 37% thought it would not happen at all
• 35% had no expectations of more money
• 24% were doubtful
• 5% believed they absolutely would get another bonus before the year was over

Paul, Weiss and Mintz stepped in with bonuses against low expectations. It’s almost like associates got a double bonus — the delight of the unexpected surprise and the money itself.

Who will be the next to reset associate expectations upwards? As the war for associates heats up, branding with associates will be increasingly important and influential. The law firms who can introduce new and unexpected pay along with career builders will build a new frontier for defining law firm’s approach to not only retaining their associates — but keeping them happy.

Clients are ramping up spending on outside counsel for litigation. They are tackling the backlog and the new matters. As they face new caseloads and new spending they have new expectations of law firms. They are reevaluating their options for law firms based on:

• Client service
• Current experience
• Responsiveness during the pandemic
• Prior performance
• Level of aggressiveness
• Investment in the relationship
• Understanding the business risk

Clients are clear as to which firms surfaced to the top — and identify the firms best suited to meet their most pressing litigation needs in 7 key areas.

Congratulations to these firms for this impressive performance — singled out by clients with no prompts or suggested names.

Best in the market ahead.

MBR
The Mad Clientist

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Clients are wondering. How much? When will I know? Some wonder how they will find out. A few top legal decision makers express amusement about exactly how and when firms initiate direct contact when sharing rate increases — setting the rate increase dance in motion.

Corporate legal budgets are largely already set for 2022. Clients built in a rate increase — but it always seems to fall short of the actual rate increases.

How and when you present the rate increase has as much to do with your client’s reaction as the increase itself. Corporate counsel shared some of the best and worst ways law firms talk about rate increases.

“The rate increase finally surfaced in my April invoice for work performed in January.”

“I learned (the rate increases) by reviewing my invoice line by line — not a good use of my time.”  

“I received a snail mail letter addressed to me as “to our valued client” in January.”

“My partner asked how I thought our litigation was going — I told him I thought it was going well — and then told me “That’s good because rates are going up.” I am not sure if he was joking but I thought he was actually asking for some kind of feedback.”

“I called and asked my partner in November — he told me he would let me know in January, but he didn’t. I had to call him again, and again.”

“An email from the law firm’s Finance Director. I save it so I would always have the name handy.”

“Rates are going up. Let’s review the matters and see if we want to change staffing or revisit our patterns of communication and streamline both.”

“As rates are going up should we think about using a fixed fee — for at least a portion of the work?”

“I know it seems high but we will gain a lot in productivity because (associate 1 and partner A ) are more experienced with you and the matter — we should make this back.”

“The rates are going up, but I was able to keep the same discount we agreed upon.”

“The firm is raising rates, but I was able to stay under the standard increase. Here is the impact on the current matters over the next 12 months — let’s talk about options to bring this down.”

Virtually every firm clients work with is raising rates. Your increase is judged on:

1. 1. How you deliver the message
   2. How other firms deliver the message
   3. How much your rate will increase

You can control 2 of these variables. It is easy to forget rate increases are part of the client experience — it may even turn into a branding event.

Passive contact — email, third party, or snail mail — has the unintended effect of diluting the perceived commitment to the relationship. Clients expect the increase, so how you handle it becomes more important. Almost as important as how you handle the push back — which may not come for a few months.

We discussed handling rate increases in detail here.

Best in the market ahead.

MBR
The Mad Clientist

Forwarded to you? Get your own copy every week! Subscribe below.

Clients are poised to spend a lot more on outside counsel to tackle their litigation matters head-on. They have bigger budgets and the motivation to work off their litigation backlog — and the new matters as well. The market is set for a healthy round of spending increases on outside counsel.

Here are the 9 trends behind the remainder of this year and the 2022 litigation market.

Best in the market ahead.

MBR
The Mad Clientist

Forwarded to you? Get your own copy every week! Subscribe below.