Page 36 - 2019 - Leaders in Legal Business (q)
P. 36
Trade Associations
Many bar associations and law societies that oversee the legal profession in their respective
jurisdictions maintain legal directories.
While they lack the dynamism of private sector offerings and they do not offer law firms
the opportunity to differentiate themselves from other firms (the format being largely a member
list), they can be a useful means of identifying lawyers officially licensed to practice in certain
jurisdictions.
Notably, the Association of Corporate Counsel developed a “Value Challenge” to highlight
those firms providing a high level of value when delivering legal services.
“Gray” Directories/Awards
With the growth of the legal directories industry, there has been a proliferation of
speculative products with minimal credibility that use pushy sales tactics.
Some are outright scams while others are legitimate, but make exaggerated claims about
the quality of their products and readership.
Law firms should develop guidelines that enable them to focus on more credible products
and not those with questionable value.
New Generation/Convergence
Skeptics have written off legal directories for 30 years, but they have proved to be
remarkably resilient and adaptable.
The legal sector has entered a new era: one shaped by technology, social media,
globalization, emerging markets, the fallout from the financial crisis, competition from alternative
providers of legal services, and a heightened sensitivity to cost.
In response to these shifts, sites like Avvo have blended the concept of a traditional legal
directory with features borrowed from the consumer world like ratings, user-generated content,
reviews, and question-and-answer forums.
Indeed, some directories, like Avvo and others, have become quasi-providers of legal
services themselves — offering low-priced fixed-fee legal services to consumers.
Offering a counterpoint to the qualitative directories that have been in the ascendancy in
this last 15-to-20 years, the likes of legal analytics company Premonition have entered the legal
rankings space by using artificial intelligence to extract information from public court documents
to find out how many cases firms won or lost.
On the horizon you have the likes of the Meisterline Index, which uses cognitive science
to measure the expertise of legal specialists.
It is likely therefore that the directories of the future will like combine elements of both
objective (fact-based, measurable) and subjective (opinions, interpretations, points of view)
research to create powerful information platforms.
21
Many bar associations and law societies that oversee the legal profession in their respective
jurisdictions maintain legal directories.
While they lack the dynamism of private sector offerings and they do not offer law firms
the opportunity to differentiate themselves from other firms (the format being largely a member
list), they can be a useful means of identifying lawyers officially licensed to practice in certain
jurisdictions.
Notably, the Association of Corporate Counsel developed a “Value Challenge” to highlight
those firms providing a high level of value when delivering legal services.
“Gray” Directories/Awards
With the growth of the legal directories industry, there has been a proliferation of
speculative products with minimal credibility that use pushy sales tactics.
Some are outright scams while others are legitimate, but make exaggerated claims about
the quality of their products and readership.
Law firms should develop guidelines that enable them to focus on more credible products
and not those with questionable value.
New Generation/Convergence
Skeptics have written off legal directories for 30 years, but they have proved to be
remarkably resilient and adaptable.
The legal sector has entered a new era: one shaped by technology, social media,
globalization, emerging markets, the fallout from the financial crisis, competition from alternative
providers of legal services, and a heightened sensitivity to cost.
In response to these shifts, sites like Avvo have blended the concept of a traditional legal
directory with features borrowed from the consumer world like ratings, user-generated content,
reviews, and question-and-answer forums.
Indeed, some directories, like Avvo and others, have become quasi-providers of legal
services themselves — offering low-priced fixed-fee legal services to consumers.
Offering a counterpoint to the qualitative directories that have been in the ascendancy in
this last 15-to-20 years, the likes of legal analytics company Premonition have entered the legal
rankings space by using artificial intelligence to extract information from public court documents
to find out how many cases firms won or lost.
On the horizon you have the likes of the Meisterline Index, which uses cognitive science
to measure the expertise of legal specialists.
It is likely therefore that the directories of the future will like combine elements of both
objective (fact-based, measurable) and subjective (opinions, interpretations, points of view)
research to create powerful information platforms.
21
