Public Reputation Tip of the Week - January 27, 2010

There is no doubt that the economic downturn hit the legal industry hard. And “BigLaw” took the biggest blow. In 2009, the nation’s largest law firms laid off more than 12,000 people, including 4,600 lawyers and 7,500 staff. A paradigm shift is occurring, marked by demand for law firms to become more cost-efficient. LexisNexis recently released its State of the Legal Industry Survey, which found that 71 percent of corporate counsel believes law firms today are not doing enough to respond to the current financial pressures on their business model. This presents enormous opportunity for those who do.

The American Lawyer recently commented, “The recent boom – with its eye-popping billing rates of $1,000 per hour, first-year associate salaries of $160,000, and bloated ranks of junior associates – is over. In its place, for now at least, is a new era in which law firms are expected to focus on being more cost-efficient.”

Small and mid-sized firms are especially well suited to provide cost-efficient legal services. Big firms can too, but clients may need a little more convincing given the current environment and negative press. Here are a few small steps your firm can take right now to leverage the current demand for cost-efficiency:

• Start with your current clients. Any good marketing initiative should always begin here. Analyze your relationship, conduct a non-billable visit to ascertain your client’s needs. Find ways to be more efficient, then let them know how you’re doing it.
• Promote your efficiency. If you survived the recession without laying off any staff, tell the world about it. Explain how you did it and what that means for your clients. If you’re hiring now, again, tell the world about it (you’d be surprised how it’s actually newsworthy right now). If you invested in new IT or implemented a new process aimed at efficiency… you guessed it, tell the world about it.
• Write an article or give a speech on efficiency. Show how your firm is an efficient legal provider without ever sacrificing quality. Provide tips for firms looking to become more efficient or for corporate counsel looking to get more from their firms.