It’s a special time of year for The Mad Clientist as he clears his desk and combs through each of the 319 in-depth, independent interviews with corporate counsel BTI wrapped up in October of 2015. The goal: find the best opportunities for law firms in 2016.
15 opportunities to drive growth in 2016 stand out:
1. The number of companies with bet-the-company litigation tripled.
2. Cybersecurity is growing at 3 times the market rate.
3. More clients expect outside counsel to understand their business.
4. Corporate counsel reverse course and are now sending more work to law firms.
5. Health care companies plan to increase spending in 10 legal segments—the most of any industry.
6. Top legal decision makers believe law firms are becoming less flexible in handling unexpected changes in their matters.
7. Telecom companies plan to increase spending across 8 legal segments.
8. Corporate counsel report a decline in value overall.
9. Complex litigation has been reborn after 3 years of dormancy.
10. More companies will be using RFPs to hire new law firms.
11. IP clients look for law firms they can use for both prosecution and litigation.
12. Almost 20% of General Counsel are new to their role within the last 3 years—and just starting to make serious strategic changes.
13. Middle market M&A continues to grow from already high levels of activity.
14. Class action is officially in growth mode.
15. Clients are adding new law firms to their panels after cutting them to a 15-year low.
You can find opportunities in practices, industries and changes in outside counsel management strategies—truly equal opportunities across the board for law firms. We recommend you map these opportunities against practice development plans to spot the ones best suited to your firm. You can move forward even without this strategic formality—inform partners so they can chase the opportunities most likely to yield the best results in 2016.
MBR