Altman Weil Survey of General Counsel Reveals Lex Mundi with Highest Recognition Among Largest Law Firm Networks

Newtown Square, PA, Jan. 28, 2003 — In a survey conducted by Altman Weil of general counsel worldwide, Lex Mundi scored highest in recognition among the world’s largest law firm networks.  In fact, the survey revealed that Lex Mundi was nearly three times better known than the next-highest scoring law firm network and five to ten times better known than other global or US-based networks.  The Altman Weil survey, which was commissioned by Lex Mundi, was conducted in conjunction with the World Bank, Schmidt Marketing, Herrmann Advertising and Martindale-Hubbell.

”Lex Mundi enjoys a significant margin of recognition among law firm decision makers,” said Charles Maddock, the Altman Weil Principal who developed the survey.  “The fact that the survey was commissioned by Lex Mundi would obviously play a role in generating the higher response, but would not be expected to triple the scores of the next highest rated network.  This is clearly a competitive advantage for Lex Mundi and its member firms,” said Maddock. 
The purpose of the survey was to understand the current status of legal decision makers and their law departments worldwide, to identify their selection process and preferences, to learn which marketing tools they rely on for making decisions, to determine their awareness of and preference for specific legal networks; and to determine their levels of satisfaction on key parameters with Lex Mundi firms.

Key points revealed in the survey were:

• Many corporate counsel intend to closely scrutinize their outside counsel and, in many cases, will continue to consolidate the number of firms that they use. Consolidation appears to be more prevalent in the US than in other jurisdictions.
• Many US corporate counsel plan to expand their law departments while the majority of their colleagues outside the US will maintain or even reduce the size of their law department.
• Ninety-two percent of chief legal officers or general counsel select or direct the selection process of outside counsel.
• The most important factors in hiring outside counsel are expertise in a specific area; perception of high quality work; reputation of an attorney in the firm; fee structure; local market knowledge and (for international matters) languages spoke.
• One-third of all respondents maintain a list of approved outside counsel for work performed domestically; 37% maintain such a list for international selection of law firms and 41% do not maintain a list at all.
• When asked how they identify new outside law firms to represent their organizations, most favored the traditional means of marketing: referrals, beauty contests and articles written by the firm's lawyers scored highest of seventeen choices. Internet directories, such as www.martindale.com, also did quite well.
• In addition to outpacing other global and domestic networks by a broad margin, satisfaction with individual Lex Mundi firms is higher than average for the attributes that are most important to corporate counsel. Lex Mundi firms scored highly on "high quality work," "reputation of attorney," "responsiveness," "firm brand," and "local market knowledge."

Complete survey results are available online at: http://www.lexmundi.com/publications/2002survey.html

About Altman Weil, Lex Mundi

Founded in 1970, Altman Weil, Inc. provides management consulting services to law firms, law departments, governmental legal organizations and legal vendors throughout North America, Latin America, the U.K. and Europe.  Altman Weil’s consultants have some of the most impressive credentials in the industry, with backgrounds in law, industry, finance, marketing, administration and government.  Altman Weil is also known for the many legal economic and management surveys it regularly conducts and publishes, including the Survey of Law Firm Economics and the Law Department Compensation Benchmarking Survey, which it publishes in association with ACCA.  More information on Altman Weil can be found at www.altmanweil.com.

Lex Mundi is the world’s leading association of independent law firms.  The association has 161 member firms, one for each of 161 jurisdictions (countries, US states, Canadian provinces) around the world, representing approximately 15,000 lawyers.  The organization provides for the exchange of professional information about the global practice and development of law, facilitates and disseminates communications among its members and improves the members’ abilities to serve the needs of their respective clients.  Member law firms are located throughout North America, Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific, the Middle East and Africa.  More information on Lex Mundi can be found at www.lexmundi.com.