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Competitive Intelligence: Helping Your Client Know Their Client

By Patricia Ellard
March 01, 2020

Our firm, as with many others, is heavily focused on our clients and we encourage our partners to view all interactions through the lens of their clients. Much of what I am seeing in the legal media today supports that client-centric ideology — what clients want, how clients will work with outside counsel in the coming year, and threats in the market, especially from alternative legal service providers. We hear more and more that exceptional client service and in-depth knowledge of the clients' business and industry are the differentiators in keeping current clients and winning new ones. Price remains a factor in law firm retention, but value far outweighs cost when it comes to long-term client relationships, bet-the-company work and ongoing client success.

As competitive intelligence (CI) functions grow in law firms and lawyers see value in using our services, demand is growing. This often means we are stretched for time and our service can be more reactive than proactive. However, when it comes to helping our clients know their clients, the opportunities to be proactive are vast. The CI professional is in a unique position, as we generally service all practice groups at the firm and receive requests requiring internal and external information on companies and industries. This exposure to client requests, especially with our regular clients, provides insights into which clients or industries they are working with and topics of interest. If, like me, you are fortunate to work closely with the library, you'll also understand the kinds of request they work on and who their regular clients are. Most of us are scanning vast amounts of legal and industry news during the course of our day. We can be on the lookout for items of interest to our clients and their clients.

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