Outside Counsel Rankings List The Firms You Want To Call
Our second annual look at the firms in-house counsel think you should call.
Dear law firms, we have your report card.
Welcome to our second annual outside counsel rankings. The conceit behind this list is simple and, I think, powerful. We’ve asked in-house counsel to rank the firms they work with and rate their satisfaction with the work.
It seems to me that asking your clients what they think of you is something that every law firm should do. It seems to me that looking at what clients say about law firms is something that other clients should look at.
Here’s the key part of our methodology:
In late 2018 and through January of this year, we reached out to corporate counsel and in-house attorneys at thousands of companies, ranging from small and medium-sized private companies to large public corporations. Ultimately, roughly 1,000 in-house lawyers — from nearly 500 companies and over 40 cities — shared with us their evaluations of their companies’ outside law firms. Our survey was direct. We asked counsel two simple questions: 1.) “Which law firms does your company engage for legal services?” and 2.) “Please indicate the highest level legal work for which your company will engage the particular firm(s).” The “levels” of work were defined along a four-point scale:
* Cost-efficient, bulk tasks (1)
* Routine matters (2)
* High-value, complex matters (3)
* “Bet-the-company” matters (4)
Listen to what in-house counsel say about these firms. I would.
