8 key lessons from Multilaw's 2022 Global Conference

1 There’s a growing disconnect between firms and in-house counsel

“32% of corporate legal departments report that they are very likely to switch firms in the next year, up from 24% in 2021."1

Wolters Kluwer’s 2022 Future Ready Lawyer survey revealed that 43% of legal departments are very satisfied with their firm today (which is up from 30% in 2021). Despite this rise in satisfaction, the survey also revealed that they are highly likely to switch firms next year. So what’s driving this disconnect?

Strikingly, one of the biggest complaints in-house counsel have about external firms is their service offering: largely that they’re able to offer sound legal advice but no viable commercial solutions. Clients increasingly want to work with firms who have sharp commercial acumen and who are able to creatively solve problems before they arise – something they’re not currently receiving from their external partners.

2 Firms must invest in relationship building to strengthen competitiveness

“Showing your clients that you can consult on business challenges as a trusted advisor is critical for strengthening relationships.”
Duc V. Trang (Managing Director, Global Advisory Services, Major, Lindsey & Africa)

With competition fierce and work increasingly being absorbed by alternative legal service providers, firms must be able to demonstrate their value if they want to remain competitive and viable. As Duc V. Trang explained during his session, customer centricity will be key to differentiating your business.

A critical component of this strategy is ensuring your business development activities are centred around building trust. It will require firms to showcase how their values and culture align with their client’s during the screening and selection process. It also requires firms to take intentional action which will help them deeply understand the unique challenges and opportunities of their clients. This approach to broadening and deepening key client accounts will not only help drive revenue and referrals for firms, but strengthen personal relationships.

3 Investment in training is needed for young lawyers

As it stands, most firms are succeeding when it comes to developing young lawyers’ legal advisory skills. However, integrating foundational business acumen and commercial skills is often overlooked in training curriculums. As Duc V. Trang explained during his session, there has been a historical focus on unstructured experiential training which, despite its benefits, hasn’t equipped today’s lawyers with the intentional strategies and tools needed to solve complex commercial challenges. Firms need to adopt a more holistic and broader approach to training, one that starts much earlier in a lawyer’s career and prioritises interpersonal skills.

4 Disruption will continue for the year ahead

The whole world is currently experiencing a range of socio-economic and political factors that are disrupting not only the legal sector, but our clients’ industries too. Whether it’s a looming recession, increased crime, civil unrest, rising mental health crises or big tech, almost every firm will be navigating volatility in 2023.

However, as Sarah Walker-Smith (CEO at Shakespeare Martineau, UK) explained during her talk, there are ways that CEOs and firms can counter these challenges:

1. Agility and transparency: Leaders must continue to be visible to strengthen loyalty and trust with clients and employees. This means being available to answer difficult questions, being truthful about any upcoming disruptions or pressure points, and reviewing your firm’s success metrics.
2. Resiliency and support: It’s vital that firms continue to manage their working capital cycle to ensure there is a steady cash flow ahead of economic uncertainty, as well as explore which business structures are going to be most lucrative during this time.
3. Rethinking careers and rewards: As we enter this turbulent landscape, it's critical that leaders maintain and strengthen the human relationships built during the pandemic. This means ensuring that individuals have relevant and appropriate rewards and goals in place to keep them engaged.

5 Deglobalisation offers new opportunities for firms

Deglobalisation may seem like a threat to many law firms. However, this growing economical and political shift offers many local firms - particularly Mutlilaw’s members - a new opportunity to assert their relevance. As Adam Cooke, Mulitlaw’s Executive Director, said during a practice group, “Take China for example. Most clients won’t go to a global firm’s US outpost in China anymore, they’ll go directly to a Chinese firm. That’s because they’ll want to work with a local firm who has expert and nuanced knowledge of a region.”

6 Why purpose is critical for long-term stability

“It’s not B2B. It’s not B2C. It’s P2P”.
Sarah Walker-Smith (CEO at Shakespeare Martineau, UK)

Since the pandemic, there have been many conversations between CEOs about leading with purpose and adopting a person-to-person (P2P) approach. In 2023, showcasing your firm’s values and culture will be critical when it comes to talent acquisition, retention and engagement. It’ll also be key to building new client relationships and strengthening existing ones.

A people-first, purposeful approach is vital to running a competitive firm, whether it's reducing your carbon footprint or making your workforce more diverse and inclusive through recruitment and training. As an industry, these small meaningful actions can make a collective change – as Sarah said, “Think of it like lots of pebbles being thrown into a pond.”

7 Co-opetition creates new opportunity for firms

A poignant question was asked during the conference: How can we help each other through these difficult times?

Collaboration with other firms is often seen as counterintuitive when it comes to strengthening a firm’s competitiveness, but in the year ahead it offers new opportunities for individuals and organisations. The idea of co-opetition, where two firms join together to achieve a common goal, is something that Multilaw members have already been leveraging through our network. But we expect to see this expand across the wider industry: for example, lawyers helping each other protect their financial investment by sharing which technological investments have worked for their firm or working with Gen Z employees to build and engage a network of lawyers active on channels like TikTok.

8 The metaverse is making waves in the legal sector

“I've got no doubt that lawyers, whether they like it or not, are going to be spending an increasing part of their professional and, indeed, outside lives involved in the metaverse, and it's definitely going to be an interesting space to watch.”
Adam Cooke, (Executive Director at Multilaw)

As our panelists discussed in “The Wild West of the Metaverse”, firms are already experiencing promising new workstreams thanks to investments made in the metaverse, particularly in areas around brand protection and IP. Whilst there are still regulatory grey areas surrounding data privacy and information security, one thing is certain: lawyers must continue to educate themselves around the opportunities and practicalities of the metaverse, not only for their firms but also for their clients.