The Legal 500 view: we are changing to reflect the needs of in-house UK

Alexander Boyes and Hayley Eustace review the latest launch of the UK edition

The 2017 edition of The Legal 500 is our biggest yet, for a number of reasons. The demand for ʻlegal directoriesʼ has increased in the past few years, due in part to more movement in the market, firms getting smarter at marketing, clients having less time, globalisation – which all leads to a need for independent third-party review.

We have responded to this demand by making some significant changes, and in our thirtieth year, we move boldly into the digital age by seeing the last printed edition of the UK guide. Apart from the environmental reasons, we have found that our ability to provide general counsel (GCs) with more information was becoming hamstrung by the limitations of book binding. So this year, if you have a copy of the book, you will see that almost every editorial write up for firms and sets points readers to www.legal500.com for extended editorial coverage. And to put that into some context, our editorial in 2016 consisted of 500,000 words, whereas this year, our researchers have produced more than 1.4 million words, nearly tripling our editorial coverage of the UK.

Why have we done this? The latest research shows that GCs and in-house teams are turning to the directories in ever-increasing numbers. Recent research into legal directories by MD Communications shows that 60% of GCs consult directories when appointing a law firm, and 54% of law firms confirmed that a potential client had mentioned their directory rankings. And, great news for everyone who submits to The Legal 500, 93% say they consult our rankings, putting us at number one. On launch day (11 October), www.legal500.com generated record traffic, up by 40% year on year. Through our initiatives, including Who Represents Who, GC Powerlists, GC magazine, The In-House Lawyer magazine, the Client Intelligence Report, we are producing more and more content and data to support the in-house community.

p class=”pullquote”>Understanding of strategic needs of the company was deemed to be the most important priority for clients when working with external counsel, alongside communication and project management.

Client feedback this year pointed to an increased focus on client service and the importance this plays when decision-makers are choosing firms, chambers and lawyers to instruct. Innovation, communication and client relationship investment were the key themes to come out of the research; ultimately those that do not see the value of market visibility and responding to client needs are going to get left behind. According to the Client Intelligence Report by The Legal 500, in which 9,100 buyers of legal services were interviewed, with regards to client relationships, understanding of strategic needs of the company was deemed to be the most important priority for clients when working with external counsel, alongside communication and project management.

To coincide with the launch of the 2017 edition of The Legal 500 UK, we were delighted to team up with the Billable Hour campaign, which encourages lawyers and barristers to donate one hour of their billable time to Save the Children. The term ʻhumblebragʼ is now well-known and we encouraged all who posted on Twitter, LinkedIn et al about the rankings to donate – they are our ʻBillable Hour Heroesʼ. We have currently raised over £37,000, but there is still time to donate to the campaign. To find out more, find out who the heroes are, and to donate, please go to www.legal500.com/assets/pages/billable-hour/billable-hour.html

The latest edition of The Legal 500 United Kingdom 2017 is available to view at: www.legal500.com/assets/pages/united-kingdom/uk.html

Alexander Boyes is UK solicitors editor and Hayley Eustace is UK Bar editor of The Legal 500 UK.