Nishlis Legal Marketing Annual GC Survey, in Partnership with ACC Israel.
As the legal landscape continues to evolve, the role of in-house counsel has become increasingly critical for organizations worldwide.
In recent years, there has been a noticeable shift towards expanding in-house legal departments. As showcaswed in the Nishlis Legal Marketing annual GC survey, in partnership with ACC Israel, in-house counsel are more experienced (80% are over 40, 65% have over 12 years’ experience as GCs, and 31% of legal departments employ 4-10 GCs (and 11% employ over 11).
This trend can be attributed to several factors, including the growing complexity of business operations, increased regulatory scrutiny, and the need for swift and strategic legal support within organizations.
GCs are focusing their work with fewer law firms than in the past (in 2020, 36% hired more than 5 firms and today 41% hire 3-5 law firms) – more work is done in-house, tighter budget and concentration of work. Inflation did not cause a change in the volume of work among in-house council in the companies are employed in, but 25% indicated fluctuations in the amount of work sent to law firms.
In-house counsels have emerged as indispensable assets for organizations seeking to thrive in today’s dynamic and highly regulated business environment. However, they do want to develop professionally and tap into law firms and other external sources. As an example, GCs point out the importance of client updates and content in general. However, most firms are more hesitant on this, thinking it is a burden or overkill.
Another trend impacting the sector is law firm mergers. There is rationale behind recent mergers in the sector – 57% of GCs prefer to work with the top 20 firms by size, while 29% indicate that the choice of a law firm depends on the nature of the work. Only 10% prefer to work with small, medium-sized, or boutique law firms.
70% of in house council are active on LinkedIn, in line with the previous survey, and showing an increase compared to the survey before the COVID-19 pandemic. However, social media is not a direct tool for choosing a law firm.
In recent years, clients continue to push for a better service. Moreover, service is the number two factor, after professionalism, when choosing a law firm. While in the past, fees were ranked fifth in importance, they have gone up to number 3 due to the economic downturn.
The process of choosing a law firm is still based on personal relationships and recommendations (72%). That will probably not change anytime soon. Contrary to how GCs select an Israeli law firm, GCs also rely on referrals when choosing foreign law firms.
However, interestingly, a trend has emerged where fewer GCs seek assistance from their own Israeli law firms for referrals, and instead do it independently (based on established relationships, internal databases, etc.). Currently, due to personal and work relationships with foreign firms, 52% of attorneys directly assign work to firms outside of Israel, and 33% responded that it depends on the situation (whether to refer through an Israeli firm or directly). In practice, only 6% consistently refer work through their Israeli law firms with whom they collaborate.
With the majority of the respondents female (62%), most in-house council, 72% raised the importance of promoting gender equality, however, only 39% said it influences their decision making process when hiring a law firm.
As part of the importance clients and GC’s attribute to better service, 75% of respondents would like to see client feedback programs in place. With regards to legal directories in rankings, 63% actively find them useful, as a source for validation, comparison and information.
Please see below the annual GC survey, conducted by Nishlis Legal Marketing in partnership with ACC Israel:
