Marketing and Trust

Today, the ABA Journal reported the recently conducted annual Altman Weil study among Chief Legal Officers has turned up a lack of belief among corporate counsel about the sincerity of talk about transformation in the legal industry. And, the way I read it, this isn’t just the typical cynicism that accompanies thoughts about lawyers.

The study is not perfect, mind you, as it has a respondent bias: the responses totalled about 15% of the total surveys sent and respondents were not quotaed or otherwise synchronized with a particular representative or target respondent distribution. However, it is clear that there is among the responders significant doubt as to the willingness and ability of law firms and their lawyer owners to make any profound changes in their business model or service mechanics.

Given the major effort that the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) has put into its Value Challenge, it’s a curiosity that no law firm has had the wisdom and courage to proclaim its unqualified support. About the best I’ve seen, personally, is Womble Carlyle’s statement of support, which — while not a complete endorsement – does attempt to address some of the expressed objectives of the ACC.

The Altman news release quotes their spokesman as calling the study findings “a dramatic vote of no confidence” in the commitment of law firms to change. In fact, while 62% of respondents rated the pressure on law firms to change at 5 or above on a 10 point scale, fully 75% rated law firm’s seriousness about change at 4 or less on the same scale.

I fear that Altman Weil’s study suggests there is little hope that we will lift the veil of negativity and doubt from the relationship of general counsel and their outside lawyers. If we can’t convince our clients that we hear what they want and are ready to conduct business according to their specifications, how happy will they ever be with our services? How willing a buyer?