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Responding to Client Calls for Value

By Kristin K. Stark and Silvia L. Coulter

For many years, corporate counsel and other executive-level buyers of legal services have been alerting law firms to their growing concern over the gap between rising law firm fees and the value of services delivered. Despite mounting client frustration, the law firm value proposition in the legal industry has remained relatively unchanged, with most firms continuing to bill clients by the hour and raising rates annually. These trends largely supported paying associates' ever-increasing salaries and drove higher partner profits ' neither of which served to improve the value of services delivered to clients. Client concerns about rising fees and the “value” of services have been previously overshadowed by years of enormous demand for legal services, enabling firms to avoid undergoing significant change to the traditional service delivery model. However, over the past year, market dynamics have aligned, creating an opportunity to transform services provided by law firms in order to better meet or exceed client demands.

Legal services purchasing power has shifted to a highly sophisticated, business savvy, and now frustrated client group, heralding the possibility of groundbreaking changes in the way that law firms and their clients interact. Today, clients appear to be gaining ground in calling upon law firms to step-up and deliver “value.” Three demand-related factors are driving this market shift. First, corporate boards (and for private companies, CFOs and other executive leaders) recognize that legal costs far outweigh any other expense of the business, and are placing growing emphasis on reducing legal spend; second, increased competition is driving down costs; and third, technological advances now provide tools that enable improved service delivery. The buyer is well educated and readily expecting law firms to respond with efficient, high-quality, cost-effective services.

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