bti brand elite 2014 executive summary

BTI Brand EliteClient Perceptions of the Best-Branded Law Firms

Compelling Research. Compelling Results.

2014

©2014 The BTI Consulting Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

2014

©2014 The BTI Consulting Group, Inc. All rights reserved. +1 617 439 0333 www.bticonsulting.com BTI Brand Elite 2014: Client Perceptions of the Best-Branded Law Firms

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Executive Summary Your Firm Is a Brand… and It’s a New Brand World

Law firms work in the murky world of soft assets—people, knowledge, skills. These same people, knowledge and skills define your brand. It’s how you win work, distinguish your firm from others, and form client relationships.

Clients—and potential clients—intuitively brand and label law firms; whether they work with a firm directly or have only observed or heard of a firm in passing. The challenge law firms face is ensuring the brand perceived in the market drives new business.

Effective branding delivers on 2 critical components:

• Market awareness—do clients think of us

• Competitive differentiation—what clients think of us

You gain awareness before differentiation. Once people are aware of who you are, your differentiators determine if you get hired and how much clients will pay.

If clients are unaware—or have no opinion—of your firm, your prospects for growth go down—fast.


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Table of Contents Click on any title to go directly to the chapter

Executive Summary 1

Brand Basics: How Client Perceptions of Law Firms Drive Better Performance 6

Client’s Choice: Recommended and Short-Listed Law Firms 8

333 Recommended Law Firms 10

196 Short-Listed Law Firms 15

Premium: Law Firms Clients Perceive as Leading the Market 19

120 Premium Value Law Firms 21

169 Bet-the-Company Law Firms 23

62 Survivors: Law Firms with the Best Long-Term Prospects 26

Innovation: The Game-Changers 28

108 Movers & Shakers 30

89 Tech-Savvy Law Firms 32

150 Value Leaders 34

74 Client Service Strategists 37

Brand Builders: Brand Velocity and the Winds of Change 39

19 Best Brand Builders 41

The BTI Brand Elite 26: Law Firms Who Have It All in the Eyes of Clients 42

Profiles of The BTI Brand Elite 26 45

About The BTI Consulting Group 72

Appendix: Alphabetical List of Law Firms and Rankings in 9 Brand Attributes 79


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Brand Basics: How Client Perceptions of Law Firms Drive Better Performance


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Client’s Choice 1. Recommended Your clients recommend you first to peers and colleagues without prompting

2. Short-Listed Your firm is considered first for hiring in new assignments

Premium 3. Premium Value Clients pay above market rates—sometimes substantially above market—and believe they receive extraordinary value

4. Bet-the-Company A safe choice for the most complex and high-risk work

5. Survivors More likely than others to be an industry leader over the long term

Innovation 6. Movers & Shakers Delivering new and valuable services or behaviors other firms don’t

7. Tech-Savvy Using technology more effectively or in new ways to add value

8. Value Leaders Making changes in process or the client experience to add value

9. Client Service Strategists Making changes to improve the client experience other firms don’t make

The Nitty Gritty: 9 Differentiators Driving Your Brand

BTI drew on 13 years of data to develop the framework for measuring and analyzing the market presence and brand imprint of law firms. BTI measures unaided market awareness along 9 key dimensions. Each of these contributes to how clients perceive law firms’ performance in the 3 critical success factors defining brand and, in turn, influencing hiring and selection: Client’s Choice, Premium and Innovation. The 9 elements of the BTI Brand Elite are:


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About The BTI Consulting Group


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BTI dissects each and every aspect of the client experience through more than 13,000 independent interviews with C-level executives and systematic analysis. BTI has helped professional services firms boost client service for 24 years.

BTI is the leading provider of strategic research to the legal community—performing more market research about law firms than virtually anyone. BTI has helped more than 200 law firms and professional services firms improve client service through compelling research and advice. We conduct the only continuous benchmarking market study in the legal services industry, now in its 13th year.

More than 70 of the 100 largest law firms use BTI’s services and research to:

• Implement robust client feedback programs

• Assess brand awareness and market positioning

• Target market opportunities

• Establish best practices and benchmarks to drive performance

BTI conducts the most insightful, custom client surveys as part of world-class client feedback programs to drive consistent client service delivery for leading professional services firms. Clients use BTI’s fact-based approach and powerful decision-making tools to drive change, create urgency and substantially boost performance.

About BTI: Who We Are


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About BTI: Key Services to Help Our Clients

Private Client Insight Briefings

BTI also offers private briefings both in person and via the web. Chock full of client-based insights, perspectives and facts, BTI briefings draw from our research, experience and other resources to provide provocative, constructive insights to help you boost client satisfaction, increase client retention and improve your performance. We can tailor our briefing to include specific feedback on your firm.

Please call Michael B. Rynowecer at +1 617 439 0333 to learn more about BTI’s custom research and services.

BTI performs a broad range of services for its clients, including:

Strategic Market Research

• High-Impact Custom Client Feedback Surveys

• Market Awareness and Brand Health

• Client Development Research

• Client Satisfaction Surveys

• Best Practices for Superior Client Service

• Private Briefings on Market Trends

Consulting

• Client-Centric Business Strategies

• Strategic Business Planning

• BTI Client Focus Boot Camp

• Garnering Premium Rates by Articulating Superior Value


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Brand Health Diagnostic

BTI is pleased to offer you an insightful customized strategic profile for your firm to help you get the most out of the BTI Brand Elite. Your in-depth Brand Health Diagnostic provides detailed client feedback on your firm’s position and recommendations for increasing your market share and revenue.

Your analysis draws on 13 years of meticulous research with corporate counsel on trends in perception and performance, with strategic insights and observations on your specific:

• Market perception

• Points of differentiation

• Positive differentiation

• Comparison of awareness to aspirational and competitive peers

• Gaps between self- and client perceptions

Please contact Michael B. Rynowecer at +1 617 439 0333 or at [email protected] to get started today on your firm’s Brand Health Diagnostic.

mailto:[email protected]?subject=Brand Elite: Brand Health Diagnostic


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BTI Research and Publications

BTI Client Service A-Team 2014: Survey of Law Firm Client Service Performance http://www.bticlientserviceateam.com 17 activities drive superior client relationships. 4 matter most. Discover how clients rate more than 250 law firms in these key activities—including Client Focus, Commitment to Help, Legal Skills and Provides Value for the Dollar. Learn which firms rank best, The BTI Client Service 30.

BTI Litigation Outlook 2014: Changes, Trends and Opportunities for Law Firms http://www.btilitigationoutlook.com Delve into the world of Litigation with a comprehensive, high-impact analysis of client spending, buying habits and opinions on over 240 law firms—by name. The only fact-based tool based exclusively on 300 one-on-one interviews with corporate counsel. Proven to boost ROI on business development efforts. Get your copy of the BTI Litigation Outlook 2014 today.

BTI Client Service All-Stars 2014 http://www.bticlientserviceallstars.com Corporate counsel’s keen assessment of outside counsel separates the attorneys who deliver excellent client service from those simply delivering good client service. This year, 307 attorneys step up to meet—and exceed—clients’ expectations and earn recognition, by name, from corporate counsel for delivering the absolute best client service.

BTI Client Relationship Scorecard 2014: Ranking Law Firm Client Relationships http://www.bticonsulting.com/clientrelationships Profitability. Market share. Growth. Revenue. Law firms track their performance against any number of metrics, but at the heart of each of these is one vital component: client relationships. In the BTI Client Relationship Scorecard 2014, corporate counsel gauge the strength of their current relationships with law firms—by name—to provide you with the most accurate measure of your law firm’s breadth and strength of client relationships—and those of your competitors.

You can order these and other compelling BTI research or publications at www.bticonsulting.com.

http://www.bticlientserviceateam.com/

http://www.btilitigationoutlook.com/

http://www.btilitigationoutlook.com/

http://www.bticlientserviceallstars.com/

http://www.bticlientserviceallstars.com/

http://www.bticonsulting.com/clientrelationships

http://www.bticonsulting.com/clientrelationships

http://www.bticonsulting.com/


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Research Methodology and Approach

BTI’s analysis measures top-of-mind recognition of nearly 450 law firms based on unbiased, direct feedback from more than 300 individual interviews with in-house counsel at the world’s largest organizations. During the course of one-on-one in-depth interviews conducted between March 2013 and July 2013, BTI probed clients as to which law firms they associate with the 9 distinct characteristics driving the selection, consideration and hire of new law firms.

Each and every law firm included in the BTI Brand Elite 2014: Client Perceptions of the Best-Branded Law Firms is the direct result of a specific unprompted client citation. We did not present clients with any law firms, by name, for the purpose of this analysis.

This analysis includes interviews with decision makers at top-spending companies:

• Average revenue of $16.4 billion

– Median revenue of $4.1 billion

• 46.8% General Counsel or Chief Legal Officer

– 44.3% direct reports to General Counsel

Our interview team averages more than 20 years’ experience interviewing C-level and top executives.


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Contact BTI

Please contact Michael B. Rynowecer, BTI President, at +1 617 439 0333 or at [email protected] with your questions, thoughts and comments.

mailto:[email protected]?subject=The BTI Brand Elite 2013


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Terms of Use

This copy of BTI Brand Elite 2014: Client Perceptions of the Best-Branded Law Firms is licensed to you for private, non-commercial use for internal company purposes. No portion of this information may be copied or transmitted in any form, shape or manner without the prior written consent of The BTI Consulting Group, Inc., of Wellesley, MA. Any violation of this license may be punishable by applicable federal statutes and subject the user to additional and compensatory licensing fees. © Copyright The BTI Consulting Group, Inc., 2014.

Address any questions to:

The BTI Consulting Group, Inc. 396 Washington Street, Suite 314 Wellesley, MA 02481-6209 +1 617 439 0333

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