Companies are not doing enough. The only thing that always amazes me is that obviously the rankings come out and companies come out with a press release saying, “Look, we`ve been ranked as leaders in 12 areas and the next five people.” Big. The problem is that no one reads them. No one cares. It is best to share this information in different ways. Create more content on social media about it, you`ll be surprised at how many people and your customers watch LinkedIn all the time, and you`ll be surprised how many people want to comment and praise you, making it more visible. All of these things are simple and any legal marketer who is worth a salt bill will tell everyone in a business, here`s how you do it. Be proud of it. If you do not yet have an account or are having trouble with your credentials or our submission site, please submit a request via our FAQ page www.legal500.com/faqs (select the `Law Firm Submissions` option). Diane Gilhooley of Eversheds Sutherland examines key issues in managing global harassment investigations and reviews the latest legal developments around the world. Gina Rubel: We also missed the trip. London is a great place to visit, and I`m sure I will live. I must say that I heard you say “where are all the high-quality legal directories”.
I`m sure some of our listeners disagree with you, and I know we`re going to have fun in this conversation. We encourage companies and groups to use the recommended logos on their websites, electronic signatures and marketing materials and, where possible, cite www.legal500.com as a source. The logos may only be used by companies, groups and individuals recommended as part of our independent research in the editorial sections of The Legal 500. We are also the only ones to publish their web statistics. We have about 18.5 million page views per year. We believe this is much more than any competitor or any comparable legal website. We believe our traffic is 2.3 times that of the Chambers & Partners website (source: semrush.com; ahrefs.com; similarweb.com) One of the things I`m starting to see from some clients, not enough, but with some, is that they want gender diversity, they want diversity of colour, et cetera, and diversity of sexuality, But what they really want is diversity of thought. They want people with different perspectives, different perspectives, who think differently.
If you look at the most demanding in-house departments, they build their legal departments, with lawyers, but also with people who are not trained as lawyers. We`re starting to see this from some in-house companies, they`re much louder and bolder in their work with their law firms. There`s a major D&I campaign in the UK, launched by Shell and Vodafone, among others, and they`ve invited some of the UK`s leading law firms to be part of this working group to try to increase diversity in the legal sector. The way in-house counsel should behave is that they should be more honest about what they need. They have to do it. One of the things that has come up in the last 18 months, which was a pretty big issue before, but was really upset by COVID, is mental health and wellness. The main driver of mental health issues in the legal industry is client demand. For example, “I have to do it now,” and it doesn`t have to. We ask email client testimonials for their opinions on strengths, weaknesses, innovations, individuals and the legal market in general. All comments and reactions to customer testimonials are made on a confidential and non-transferable basis.
An arbitrator may be a client, an importer or occupational physician, or a consultant. It`s a good question, but it`s not easy to answer because there are so many things that need to change. The attitude of the partners must change, the tone from above is very important. I think if you`re lucky enough to be in a company where you`re entrusted with this work, that`s fine, but a lot of it depends on your ability to show how you can add value and how you help the customer process. The problem is, and I`m sorry for a lot of people in legal marketing, because in most companies it`s much easier to show how you can work to help clients than in the legal department, where I sat down with partners who said, “That`s all well and good what marketing does. But customers only want to hear about partners. Every customer I talk to says it`s just not true. If I were in legal marketing, I would be fired in about 20 minutes. I would just call customers directly and say, “I just want to talk to you about what`s going on, I need more information.” There`s a part of me that thinks everyone is concerned about how they`re seen, the structure and order of things, but just go talk to some clients. They want to hear from you. They want to know what`s going on. You want to give that opportunity for feedback.
There is a great article, I think, last week, I think it was on law.com about laid-off clients and clients firing law firms and nobody has heard of it. Prior to the recording of the podcast, Gina asked David about the trends he sees in the legal industry and their impact on the global legal audience. David said: David Burgess: You may not submit next year, but you`re in recruitment mode, you build these clients, and then you get to a point where you think it`s worth having another crack. I think we are ready for that. The other thing about Legal 500 in the U.S. is that it`s pretty hard to get in. At this time, we do not review all rankings at all levels. It`s hard to get into an M&A table because you could put a lot of companies in it, and what do you give to the client? We are relatively brief. It`s elitist without shame, and if you look at it, there are only about 300 law firms ranked in the United States, and only about 140, 150 of them get more than one ranking. It`s hard to get into the Legal 500, but the rewards are huge. Although David worked in tax and legal publishing for 23 years, he worked at The Legal 500 for 17 years and was involved in all aspects of the portfolio, from its launch in the US to the launch of the GC Powerlist series, an event company that has hosted 150 events in 50 countries by 2020.
We look at everything the Advocate General needs to know at the end of the day. Who will be your best business consultant for the legal department? LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/davidburgesslegal500/ Interviews are based on a standard questionnaire. However, follow-up questions and more comprehensive conversations about specific law firms and key issues that influence the purchase of legal services are indeed the norm. This is partly due to the fact that the interviews are conducted by experienced journalists and researchers with a high level of market knowledge. Not all interviews are assignable. Throughout the year, we also receive many unsolicited comments and recommendations from customers. What we really want to see is what is your story? What is the story you tell a customer? Every law firm says their firm is different.