The number of top legal decision makers recommending firms to their peers dropped for the 2nd year in a row. A concerning trend as clients continue to expect more. This is even more concerning when you factor in the shrinking number of law firms clients keep on their short list for hire. We go into 2017 with 13.4% fewer law firms earning client recommendations than in 2015. Client expectations are changing, growing, and only moving up. Law firms who engage in comprehensive client feedback programs earn dramatically more recommendations than those who don’t.
Broad and penetrating client feedback fundamentally drives the delivery of steadily improving client service. Think feedback with at least 45 top clients, if not well more. The firms who gather 3rd party client feedback from a large enough client group see their performance substantially improve. The reason: firms performing client feedback learn about the changes clients are making first, can stay ahead of those changes, and provide the client service clients have come to expect—and tell their peers about.
In a world where it’s harder to deliver the kind of client service earning an unprompted client recommendation, please join us in congratulating the below firms who do.
The law firms climbing the ranks for Client Recommendations in the just-released BTI Brand Elite 2017 are:
Best of the Best
Cooley
Dentons
DLA Piper
Gibson Dunn
Jones Day
Kirkland & Ellis
Skadden
Leaders
Alston & Bird
Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer
Baker Botts
Baker McKenzie
BakerHostetler
Boies Schiller & Flexner
Bryan Cave
Cleary Gottlieb
Covington
Cravath, Swaine & Moore
Crowell & Moring
Davis Polk
Dechert
Eversheds Sutherland
Faegre Baker Daniels
Fish & Richardson
Greenberg Traurig
Hogan Lovells
Holland & Hart
Holland & Knight
Hunton & Williams
Jackson Lewis
K&L Gates
King & Spalding
Latham & Watkins
Littler
Mayer Brown
McDermott Will & Emery
McGuireWoods
Morgan Lewis
Morrison & Foerster
Norton Rose Fulbright
Ogletree Deakins
Orrick
Paul, Weiss
Pillsbury
Polsinelli
Reed Smith
Ropes & Gray
Scopelitis, Garvin, Light, Hanson & Feary
Seyfarth Shaw
Sidley
Simpson Thacher
Squire Patton Boggs
Sullivan & Cromwell
Troutman Sanders
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
Weil
White & Case
WilmerHale
Learn how your firm can earn client recommendations in the new BTI Brand Elite 2017: Client Perceptions of the Best-Branded Law Firms, available now.