In the pre-2008 world, General Counsel (GC) at many firms enjoyed a cosy ‘you scratch my back, I scratch yours’ kind of relationship with their law firms. Scrumptious ‘business’ lunches, leisurely ‘meetings’ at golf courses – these were all part of the ‘relationship-building’ exercise.
Then 2008 arrived and with it came the crash – of markets, of business lunches and even of golf course meetings.
Post-2008, organisations everywhere cut their legal budgets (and the budgets for business lunches and golf course meetings) and law firms were now classed as suppliers – the same as everyone else. The cosy lawyer-client relationship was at an end. Today, thanks to a growing awareness that they need to get a good return on their investments, whether it’s in assets or in law firms, GCs demand more bang for their buck.
At the same time, buyer behaviours and workforce expectations are also changing. Across the whole professional services market, the use of technology and effective, rapid communication between service providers and clients are no longer nice-to-have but need-to-have.
But law firms in general seem to be struggling to keep up with these winds of change. Their clients are dissatisfied with the firms, find them inefficient and believe that they’re anything but cost-effective. In fact, clients expect to purchase a better product at a lower price while law departments want to see returns to scale. But apart from these vague grievances, clients themselves are not sure what exactly they want or need from law firms, believing that the latter need to figure out their problems and clean their own house so to speak.
This lack of understanding, an unwillingness to discuss grievances openly and of course conflicting goals, creates tensions between firms and their clients.
Can technology be a solution to identifying these conflicting expectations and resolve the underlying challenges?
A few of the larger law firms seem to think so.
Some, like Clifford Chance, an international law firm, are implementing an AI platform that streamlines the document review process and provides draft clauses for adoption in documentation. By offering this toolkit to clients for a fixed fee, it enables them to access complex legal advice at a lower price compared to individual, bespoke analysis. In other words, technology (AI) is giving Clifford Chance’s clients – from global investment banks to boutique asset managers – what they need, when they need it and at a much-reduced cost.
Other firms are also following suit. The American firm Baker Donelson for example, has implemented a database infrastructure to provide quick access to critical information that can speed up its decision-making process. The firm also uses data modelling to forecast case outcomes that help lawyers formulate better strategies to assist their clients. This naturally improves the lawyer-client relationship, and promotes mutual trust and reliance.
Thus, technology is empowering law firms to ‘industrialise’ their businesses so they can deliver better-quality service, cheaper and faster.
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