Key insights:

• • • AI can help lawyers prepare better, more relevant client conversations — AI’s real value lies in synthesizing news, regulatory updates, client activity, and relationship data so lawyers have timely, tailored insights that make outreach easier and more meaningful.

    • AI works best as a foundation for client discussions, not a script — Panelists at a recent Forum repeatedly stressed that AI-generated briefs and opportunity matrices should only guide lawyers, but authenticity, experience, and interpretation are still what make client conversations effective.

    • Firms must actively and clearly talk to clients about their AI capabilities — Clients increasingly expect AI-savvy law firms, and those that can confidently explain how AI improves their service offerings while keeping humans at the center will stand out, while silence or vague messaging is a missed opportunity.

AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. — During the Thomson Reuters Institute’s recent��33rd Annual Chief Marketing & Business Development Officer Forum��(formerly the��Marketing Partner Forum), one concept became clear very quickly: When it comes to AI in law firms, the technology itself isn’t the hard part anymore. The real challenge — and the real opportunity — is how firms use AI to deepen client relationships and, just as importantly, how they talk to clients about what they’re doing.

Indeed, more than three-quarters of respondents (77%) say they believe law firms should take the initiative to begin these talks with clients around AI usage, according to the recent Thomson Reuters Institute’s 2026 AI in Professional Services Report.

Across multiple Forum panel discussions, speakers returned again and again to the same idea: AI is becoming a powerful business development engine, but only if lawyers and law firm business development teams are willing to use it proactively and communicate its value in human terms.

AI as an assistant, not a replacement

One of the most practical discussions that arose during the Forum centered on using AI to make client outreach less painful and more effective. Too often, panelists contended, senior lawyers often don’t send regular client notes — but it’s not because they don’t care. These notes get put on the backburner because crafting them takes time away from billable work and is hard to prioritize.

You can find out more about next year’s Chief Marketing & Business Development Officer Forum 2027��here

Several panelists talked about how AI can change that equation by pulling together information from news coverage, regulatory developments, earnings calls, relationship data, and even what clients are actively reading. Instead of staring at a blank page, partners can walk into a meeting or send a note armed with relevant, timely insights that actually matter to the client, they explained.

“We can plant things in our lawyers’ and partners’ minds to move the needle with clients so they can open conversations with clients that will make a difference,” said one panelist.

Of course, the point isn’t to automate relationships, rather it’s to give lawyers a smarter starting point — a short list of clients to contact, paired with concrete conversation openers that feel tailored rather than generic. “Those conversations and what results from those conversations will be revolutionary for your firm,” the panelist added.

Another theme that resonated at the Forum was the idea of matching client needs with firm capabilities in a much more structured way. AI can help generate documents that clearly show what a client is dealing with and where the firm can help — essentially an opportunity matrix that’s built from real data.

Strong need for lawyer training around AI

Several speakers were quick to stress, however, that this doesn’t mean that AI should be left on autopilot. The best results come when firms train their partners before client meetings, using AI-generated briefs as a foundation, not a script. That balance — between automation and authenticity — came up repeatedly throughout the Forum. As several panelists described, AI can bring insights to the surface, but lawyers still need to interpret those insights, contextualize them, and deliver them in a way that feels personal.

“AI might get you 90% of the way there, but that last 10% still depends on human judgment, experience, and relationship skills,” said one law firm technology specialist.

Indeed, if there was one clear takeaway from the Forum, it’s that AI adoption rises or falls on training. Not broad, one-size-fits-all sessions, but bespoke, one-on-one training that shows lawyers exactly how AI helps them prepare for client conversations. Indeed, several panelists argued that it is essential that firms educate their attorneys on how to use these tools effectively or give them very specific guidance — anything less will lead to hesitation, confusion, or outright resistance.

Of course, the problem is that AI adoption isn’t waiting for everyone to catch up. As one speaker noted, the train is already leaving the station, and those firms that fail to bring partners along — especially by showing clear, practical benefits of AI use — risk falling behind quickly.

In fact, several panelists discussed how the excitement around agentic AI is real, but so are the risks. They warned against assuming these more advanced tools are smarter or more autonomous than they really are. In fact, AI agents are still constrained by the data and tools they’re given, and a flawed understanding at the leadership level can lead to poor decisions and misplaced expectations.

That said, business development was repeatedly described as an ideal starting point for experimenting with agentic AI. The workflows are less rigid or high stakes than agentic use for legal work, the feedback loops are faster, and early wins are easier to spot.

Talking to clients about AI matters

Overall, perhaps the most important takeaway from the Forum wasn’t technical at all. It was strategic.

Because clients are increasingly expecting their law firms to be AI‑savvy, firms have to be proactive in their response. Firms have to not just be using AI internally, but understanding how the technology improves their service, efficiency, and insight. Those firms that can clearly and confidently explain to their own partners and clients how AI supports their best efforts — and where humans still play a critical role — will stand out. Staying silent about AI, or worse, being vague and generic about its value, is a missed opportunity, several panelists explained.

Those law firms that thrive, especially around business development and client service, will be the ones that treat AI not as a back-office experiment, but as a client-facing capability — something to be discussed openly, thoughtfully, and authentically.

You can read the full��Executive Summary of the Thomson Reuters Institute’s 33rd Annual Chief Marketing & Business Development Officer Forum��here

• • • EI is emerging as a critical strategic capability — Stronger emotional intelligence can enable law firm leaders to build trust, navigate complex relationships, and strengthen both internal collaboration and client engagement.

    • Culture is now the defining factor in retaining top talent — As professionals increasingly expect transparency, purpose, and human‑centered leadership rather than traditional top‑down structures, law firms need to adapt.

    • Successful lateral integration requires coordination — Firms need to provide consistent messaging and fulfill their commitments to ensure that new hires feel aligned, supported, and positioned to contribute meaningfully.

AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. — If you’ve spent any amount of time inside a law firm, you already know that the people stuff is often the hardest part of the job. Sure, the work is complex, the clients are demanding, and the deadlines are relentless — but navigating human dynamics? That’s where things get really interesting.

During the Thomson Reuters Institute’s recent��33rd Annual Chief Marketing & Business Development Officer Forum��(formerly the��Marketing Partner Forum), three panels zoomed in on law firm talent: how to attract it, how to integrate it, and how to keep it. And while the themes ranged from emotional intelligence to lateral hiring to long‑term culture building, one takeaway stood out loud and clear: Those law firms that want to succeed have to start thinking about talent as a strategic engine — not an administrative task.

EI is not just a soft skill, it’s a strategic power skill

Emotional intelligence (EI) is having something of a renaissance inside law firms, and frankly, it’s overdue. As several panelists emphasized, EI isn’t about being warm and fuzzy — it’s about , especially in a high‑pressure, fact‑driven environment like law.

Stronger EI, especially among firm leadership, will enhance everyone’s ability to perceive, understand, and manage their own emotions and relationships. Emotionally intelligent professionals are better able to motivate themselves, read social cues, and build stronger relationships. And because it requires being aware of emotions in oneself and others, it can positively impact internal collaboration and external client relationships.

You can find out more about next year’s Chief Marketing & Business Development Officer Forum 2027��here

For example, one panelist explained, if your go‑to opener with clients is still, “How’s it going?”, don’t expect anything more insightful than a polite shrug. Lawyers should use intentional conversation starters and even simple prompts, such as sharing the “top 10 things clients say we can do better,” the panelist explained.

Of course, EI isn’t always easy for lawyers because they are trained to trust facts, not feelings. That means firm leaders often need to dig deeper especially when someone seems resistant. It’s crucial for law firm leaders to remember that EI isn’t emotional fluff. It’s how firms build trust, lead through uncertainty, and strengthen both internal teams and client relationships. It’s a differentiator, panelists said, and one that law firms can no longer treat as optional.

In retention, culture is the whole game

Indeed, so much around talent hinges on the workplace culture, and as another panel discussed, that it has become the linchpin for successful hiring and retention of top talent. Indeed, in today’s environment, even the best firms may have trouble hiring and keeping top talent in a market where expectations, especially after the pandemic, have changed dramatically.

“It’s just changed so much since the pandemic where people just did their jobs and were expected to do so,” said one panelist. “Now, they want to feel valued and want to feel like they are making a difference.”

Several panelists agreed, pointing out that top talent is harder to hire than ever, largely because client demands have increased and the talent pool hasn’t expanded at the same pace. However, culture is where firms either win or lose the long game, they concurred.

Today’s employees want to feel valued, engaged, and connected to meaningful work — not just completing tasks in the background. They want transparency, authenticity, and involvement in strategy, panelists said. “People need to want to be part of your team, they need to feel prized once they’re there,” said another panelist. “They want leaders who are human first, and executives second.”

While this cultural tightrope may seem daunting, when a firm gets it right, recruiting becomes significantly easier. People want to work in environments in which they can be themselves, questions are encouraged, and their participation actually shapes outcomes, another panelist explained. “Keeping great people isn’t about perks or ping‑pong,” they said. “It’s about trust, clarity, and connection.”

The strategy behind making lateral integration work

Another aspect of the talent discussion, lateral hiring, has become a cornerstone of modern law firm growth, according to another panel. But to be honest, several panelists argued, even firms that recruit great laterals often fail to integrate them properly.

This can be a critical failure, they added, because lateral integration isn’t a task — it’s a firmwide commitment. When done well, it accelerates growth; but when done poorly, it creates churn, skepticism, and reputational risk.

Panelists stressed that laterals need clear messaging from everyone in the firm about how they fit into the broader business strategy. That means offering them consistent narratives and articulated opportunities, as well as stories of client wins, proof points about firm strengths, and external endorsements — all of which can help build credibility, they said.

Further, laterals need structured opportunities to showcase their expertise — such as CLEs, webinars, client events, internal spotlights. “These aren’t just marketing activations,” one panelist noted. “They are culture‑building moments that signal, ‘You’re part of this team, and we want people to know what you bring.’�ĝ

On-boarding laterals, especially lateral teams, often can be a fraught proposition, and ideally one person should coordinate the entire process on the firm’s behalf. Otherwise, the new partner ends up drowning in inconsistent communication and duplicate requests. “Nerves are very high during this time — worries about whether the lateral made the right choice, whether support staff is being accommodated, and, most critically, whether clients will come over too — and all that has to be managed,” a panelist said.

However, the most important thing firm leadership can do when it comes to laterals is to simply deliver on their promises. Few things sour a lateral’s experience faster than broken commitments, another panelist offered.

Overall, the thread throughout all these panels on talent challenges within law firms showed that law firms need to evolve not just how they manage work, but how they manage people. Whether leveraging EI to power leadership and motivate teams, unifying communication to drive successful lateral integration, or fostering a culture in which top talent wants to stick around, firms would be wise to invest in human‑centered strategies.

Indeed, the potential payoff is massive: More engaged teams, stronger client relationships, and a more resilient future. And for those firms that don’t make this shift? Well, talent always has other options.

You can read the full��Executive Summary of the Thomson Reuters Institute’s 33rd Annual Chief Marketing & Business Development Officer Forum��here

Key insights:

• • • Despite a strong 2025, law firms face growing challenges — Client expectations continue to evolve, as more clients are now more sophisticated around AI and pricing, pushing law firms to provide greater transparency and communication.

    • Client relationships are becoming shallower — As clients increasingly demand transparency and collaboration, particularly regarding AI adoption and pricing models, law firms must adapt quickly to meet these new expectations.

    • Differentiation is more vital than ever — Responsiveness, speed, and clear communication about value and technology have emerged as key factors for law firms to stand out and deepen client relationships.

AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. — It may have already become cliché to say that the legal industry is at a significant crossroads: Firms are coming off what appears by all measures to be a very successful 2025, yet the industry also is facing fundamental structural change, driven mainly by AI and subsequent changing client expectations.

Subsequently, that temperament permeated the opening sessions of the Thomson Reuters Institute’s 33rd Annual Chief Marketing & Business Development Officer Forum (formerly the Marketing Partner Forum) held this week.

“No matter how well we’re all doing, the angst level has never been higher,” said one law firm leader at the Forum.

Jen Dezso, Director of Client Relations at the Thomson Reuters Institute, opened the event giving a data-rich thumbnail of the legal market, based mostly on the recently released 2026 Report on the State of the US Legal Market, published jointly by the ��������® Institute and the Center on Ethics and the Legal Profession at Georgetown Law. Dezso demonstrated that almost all key indicators for law firm performance are up — demand, fees worked, lawyer growth — and that firms seem to be “monetizing the work they capture.” The main drivers pushing firm growth, she explained, are being moved by strategic wins of high-value business rather than a higher volume of ordinary work.

“No matter how well we’re all doing, the angst level has never been higher.”

Yet there are some darker clouds on the horizon, she added, noting that client relationships may be a bit shallow. For example, while just over one-third of large clients (36%) said they plan to increase their legal spend in the coming year, less than one-quarter of that spend (23%) goes to the firm that the client uses most — a figure that has been dropping over the last several years. Indeed, that most-used firm now gets engaged for less than three work types, and only 15% of clients say they will use their most-used firm more in the coming year.

Not surprisingly then, these figures weighed heavily as panels of top lawyers and law firm marketing and business development specialists discussed these matters during the Forum.

“Clearly, the softening of client relationships is a key piece of this,” said one business development officer. “And you can see that in RFPs and the level of transparency that clients are asking for. I think a lot of work needs to be done by law firms to ensure these deeper trusting relationships with clients.”

Others on the panel agreed. “Financially we’re doing very well, but we should be looking at what has changed with the clients,” one said, adding that many outside law firms may not have fully processed the impact the global pandemic has had on client relationships over the ensuing five years.

What’s changed in clients’ minds?

Understanding and adapting to this change in clients’ mindsets should be mission critical for law firms today. Indeed, all other initiatives — collaboration, pricing, business development, and more — will flounder on the rocks if law firms don’t engage with their clients directly. And the primary result of that engagement should have law firms coming away with an understanding of what clients want and need and, even more importantly, where clients see their outside firms failing to meet those needs.

Though obviously a difficult conversation, this level of client engagement is the only way firms are going to be able to deliver for clients while remaining sustainable, innovative, and profitable themselves.

You can read the full here

Perhaps the most dramatic shift these panelists perceive is the change in client expectations around AI. Several noted that there is a growing disconnect between what clients believe AI should enable law firms to do and what firms are actually delivering — and many said this was the fault of poor communication. For example, RFPs now routinely include references to AI, with clients moving from a stance of caution — You can use AI, but not with my data — to one of collaboration — Where can we work together within the AI space? This rapid evolution requires firms to be able to communicate their clear roadmap for AI adoption and pricing innovation that is understood by partners and can be conveyed easily to clients.

“Transparency and communication are paramount,” offered one law firm executive. “Firms must be able to explain their approach to AI and demonstrate its value to clients.” In fact, several panelists suggested that the best opportunities to deepen client relationships often arise in these conversations around technology and innovation.

In many cases it is the role of the Chief Marketing and Business Development Officers to lead these conversations, especially as these talks can help differentiate the firm. “The leaders in these roles may have the most important job within their firm,” noted one panelist. “The capability of these roles to see outside the walls of the firm is incredibly important.”

Several panelists pointed out that increasingly in today’s crowded marketplace, differentiation is more vital than ever, yet seemingly more difficult to achieve. “Sometimes it does come down to responsiveness and speed — these age-old client service tenants that we’ve all pursued forever,” said another firm marketing professional.

In fact, according to Thomson Reuters Institute data, clients look at several areas of differentiation when considering outside legal services, including the firm’s AI implementation, with 40% of clients citing that. And while clients ranked both cost efficiency and the use of value-based pricing lower, at 29% and 16% respectively, many law firm leaders said they consider pricing a critical challenge for the industry, especially given the mounting pressure on the traditional billable hour model.

“We need to get clients to look at value, and we need to get our own partners to look at our own value proposition,” explained one firm leader. “If we can’t segment the work and see what it takes to deliver this, we are in trouble.”

As the Forum discussions illustrated, as clients become much more sophisticated around pricing, law firms have to make sure their lawyers and partners can communicate the firm’s value to clients. “We, as law firm leaders, need to have confidence in what are partners are saying — I mean, that’s true marketing — and we need to talk through these issues with partners, so everyone is more comfortable addressing this with clients.”

You can find out more about next year’s Chief Marketing & Business Development Officer Forum 2027��here

Notes from previous attendees

“From the quality of the content to the caliber of colleagues in legal marketing and business development, this is one of the standout events I look forward to every year.” — Ian Ribald, Chief Business Development & Marketing Officer, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP

“2024 was my first time at the CMBDO Forum—and as we wrapped up, I knew it wouldn’t be my last. Connecting with peers, sharing real stories, and learning from their experiences was invaluable.” — Oliviana Mingarelli, Head of Marketing and Business Development, Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP

Indeed, according to panelists at the Thomson Reuters Institute’s 32nd annual Marketing Partner Forum, held in late-January, securing the buy-in may be a more difficult task than actually getting the financial resources needed to undertake the new initiative.

Today, many law firm leaders are most worried about addressing their firm’s talent issues and trying to mitigate any potential revenue loss, one panelist said. However, that does offer firm marketing professionals and opportunity — if they can focus management’s attention on these worries, it may be easier to make a case for an investment in tech innovations or client programs to alleviate some of these concerns.

“Fear and risk mitigation are powerful ways to convince firm management to act,” the panelist explained.

Firms seem eager to invest in tech

In fact, according to recent data, law firm leaders already may be getting the message about the necessity of investing in advanced AI-driven tech solutions to improve workflow efficiency and leverage data for better decision-making. Tech spending by law firms has been on the rise, growing at a historically high rate of 9.4% at the end of 2024, with a notable year-end acceleration coming in the last month of the year.

According to the recent Thomson Reuters Institute’s��2025 Report on the State of the US Legal Market, many law firm leaders see tech investment as a way to gain an advantage with clients in a highly competitive legal market. And as clients increasingly expect the integration of tech solutions in the work of their outside law firms, law firms are feeling the pressure to invest heavily in data infrastructure and AI tools, even given the increasing costs of development and maintenance.

While many legal market experts — and more than a few at the Forum event — expect tech spending to continue to increase as generative AI (GenAI) investments become non-negotiable for law firms, the path to getting the rest of the firm on board with these investments, especially around adopting the new technology and properly training lawyers and staff to use it, is daunting.

Still, as is evident by the numbers, many law firms are gearing up to explore new AI-driven tools to help their lawyers and staff in a myriad of ways — from conducting legal research, crafting documents, leveraging matter management, and engaging in predictive analytics. Yet, in addition to the considerable capital investments, as well as the costs of maintenance and training, firms may also need to spend sizeable sums to optimize and maintain their data in order to capitalize on the potential benefits of GenAI.

Check out the recent video from here

And that’s all before you get to securing the necessary buy-in from your team.

Indeed, many a firm has seen its investment in the latest tech tool or client management platform wreck on the rocks of lawyer indifference or outright hostility to the way their workflow will need to adapt to make best use of the new innovation. And that, as many panelists pointed out, is just one of the problems.

“You also have to rapidly adapt to lawyers’ refusal to cede territory,” said one panelist at the event. “Too many lawyers want to be ‘the only salesman’ and the only one having any interaction with key clients, which can make creating a new client program very difficult.”

How to secure the buy-in

Many panelists at the Forum had their own success stories in how to best secure the needed buy-in, especially from top lawyers. For example, one panelist suggested framing the investment in new tools, programs, or data initiatives around an insistence to act on it. “You need to create scarcity, or a FOMO [fear of missing out] in managers’ minds,” the panelist said. “You need to make them afraid to not act.”

Another panelist suggested that marketing and business development professionals pitch new initiatives as a need to follow what the firm’s biggest clients are doing in order to remain competitive. “We looked at creating a client program with a careful eye on which clients fit the program and which didn’t,” said the panelist. “And we were able to move forward on it by positioning it was a way to use the program as a proving ground for client strategy plans that we could then take further down our client list and increase our work with those clients.”

“Fear and risk mitigation are powerful ways to convince firm management to act.”

For lawyers, the strategy may be a little different. One panelist recommended that when trying to get lawyers on board with new tech innovations or client management programs, you should stress the innovation’s expanded ability to create opportunities, especially those that will help lawyers interact and engage with clients. “We wanted to help our lawyers find the micro-actions that can allow them to see what their clients are doing,” the panelist said. “You have to help them put two and two together and really see how it benefits them without placing a lot more work on their plate.”

Another Forum participants urged taking the long view and seeing securing the buy-in as a process. “Take small steps — get one meeting, get small wins, and foster a coalition of the willing,” the participant said. “Don’t let naysayers derail it, and don’t name the program — just do the work.”

Once the early work is done and some small wins have been wracked up, it’s much easier to move on to the next critical step of developing ROIs to show management how to pursue the most profitable areas. “And don’t let the perfect be the enemy of progress,” she explained. “Work with what you have and show success early — that really helps.”

And never forget, the participant continued, you have to bring the lawyers around. “Some lawyers will be uncomfortable with the tech and AI, but they still have to be brought in. Just sell it internally, whet the lawyers’ appetite, and then bring them along for the ride.”

Always remember, she added, you eventually have to draw a line to revenue, because that makes the world go around.

You can find out more about��recent Marketing Partner Forum events��here

“The key question — not just for marketing purposes, but for law firms’ overall success — is what is your firm’s data strategy? What is its structure?” asked one panelist at the recent Thomson Reuters Institute’s 32nd annual Marketing Partner Forum, held in late-January. “How best can your firm cut through the clutter and getting to what your clients really want to talk about.”

Indeed, panelists went through numerous impactful ways that law firms can leverage their internal data to refine their marketing strategies, including by collecting and analyzing information about past and current clients and identifying common characteristics among them, which could enable more personalized marketing campaigns and engagement. Firms can also build out case studies and success stories using their own internal data that can be highlighted on the firm’s website, shared on social media, or used directly in client proposals.

Check out the recent video from����here

Also, running the data on firms’ performance metrics around various marketing campaigns — determining such key indicators as email open rates, website traffic, and conversion rates — which can help optimize future campaigns for better results. Overall, panelists discussed how by effectively using their own internal data in these ways, law firms can create more targeted, efficient, and impactful marketing campaigns that attract and retain clients, enhance the firm’s reputation, and ultimately drive growth.

“Even those law firms that don’t have a lot of time or money can still get insight and value out of analyzing their data,” one panelist said.

Understanding what you have in your data

Ideally, this requires marketing professionals to look at their firm’s data more holistically, before deciding what client-centric data could be used to help lawyers in writing pitches and engaging with clients, several panelists explained. “The best data is that which gets looked at and understood,” offered one panelist, adding, however, that many law firms simply aren’t there yet. “Clearly, so many firms are still struggling with the use of their own data,” the panelist noted. “It is daunting — however, data will take you farther down the road than you would have gotten with index cards in a recipe box.”

Several panelists described their own experiences with trying to wrestle their firm’s data into a structure that could be leveraged to provide marketing and business development professionals — and by extension, the firm’s lawyers — with the insights and understanding to more effectively pitch work or write the kind of proposals that will get clients’ attention.

“The best data is that which gets looked at and understood… Yet so many firms are still struggling with the use of their own data.”

“We looked at our data overall and saw what worked and what didn’t work,” another panelist explained, adding that this data included the RFPs the firm won, the ones it didn’t, the business mandates it received, and the situations in which it lost out to other law firms or legal service providers. “And once we looked at the data we had, we had to figure out what we should do with it. There were a lot of expectations and challenges right off the bat.”

Very quickly, however, once a firm is involved in the data retrieval and analysis process, other questions rise to the surface. “You need to draw up a roadmap for innovation,” a panelist explained. “And that means taking inventory of the data you have, no matter what form it is in, and then examining who within the firm uses what and how it’s being used.”

For example, using data for client mapping can reveal key touchpoints and areas where clients may drop off, become disengaged from the firm, or worse yet, take their business elsewhere. By leveraging internal data, panelists said, the insights gained can be used to enhance the client experience, from initial contact to matter resolution, and ensure a smoother and ultimately more satisfying process.

Getting the data in front of people

Of course, one of the primary ways to make all this work is collaboration among the parts of a law firm that touches the data as it makes its way to utilization. “The key to collaboration is that you all have to speak the same language — those that collect the data, own the data, and ultimately use the data. And there is a lot to do to make kind of collaboration happen.”

Yet, firms that undertake this process can see benefits immediately. “We needed to create a plan that would keep our data strategy in front of people,” explained another panelist. “And one thing we found right away was that we could cut down on the number of meetings we had by using more actionable data that team members could follow up on.”

While clearly, an AI-driven examination of the characteristics of successful work pitches, for example, could be quite useful, one panelist explained that their firm saw almost right away that it had too few professionals who could analyze this data in that way. “We saw that data cannot be a side-project, rather there has to be someone in a role that manages it, whether that’s within the practice innovation team or somewhere else, someone has to own this data,” the panelist said.

“The need to solve for the disconnect between data that offers insights and those business development professionals who may be uncomfortable bringing this to lawyers is crucially important.”

To solve this problem, many law firms make the mistake of simply creating data positions often using those existing team members who may be more data-inclined; but it’s actually more important to bring on a data specialist — whether internally or through outsourcing — because someone has to have the knowledge and skill to interpret the data and guide against any misuse.

Then, panelists explained, comes perhaps the most difficult, yet potentially rewarding, challenge: Once you have identified and collected the data and used it to identify critical insights, you have to make sure the firm’s lawyers will accept and use what you’ve found.

“The need to solve for the disconnect between data that offers insights and those business development professionals who may be uncomfortable bringing this to lawyers is crucially important, as is making sure your lawyers have a way to discuss these insights and opportunities with clients,” another panelist offered. “All of this has to be brought through, ultimately to sales, for the use of your firm’s data to be considered a success.”

And as advanced AI-driven tech evolves, it will become more important for lawyers to have the skills to use this tech themselves, which will allow them to see first-hand the interactions, the engagement, and the opportunities. “That will be the ultimate test — when lawyers are using these data-driven insights themselves to improve their clients’ experience, that’s the win.”

You can find out more about��recent Marketing Partner Forum events��here

In the panel, which dealt with talent retention and attraction issues, panelists explained that firms’ marketing partners and their teams are seeing their roles become more critical for attracting and retaining talent through deliberate efforts involving messaging, branding, and storytelling. “Marketing partners need to be creative and offer ways to tell their firms’ stories by connecting the dots throughout their firms,” one panelist said, adding that hiring, integration, and on-boarding of new employees are the key areas where this can take place.

As compensation levels have challenged some firms to keep up, the legal industry overall also is experiencing much less stickiness since the global pandemic, one panelist noted, and this is creating an environment in which many legal professionals are looking to move to other firms.

Marketing partners need to be creative and offer ways to tell their firms’ stories by connecting the dots throughout their firms.

Other panelists agreed, stressing that it’s important for firm recruiters and marketing professionals to understand the motivations of their prospective hires in seeking out a move in the first place. Indeed, one panelist noted, underlying the lateral hiring process is the critical question of why do talented people in the legal industry move? “These firm professionals need to understand this motivation on a personal level and create a narrative around the firm that helps bring top talent over,” another panelist offered.

Check out the recent video from����here

Surveys over the years have shown that compensation isn’t traditionally the main reason for a move, often ranking behind such factors such as feeling underappreciated and a lack of progression. In fact, a firm’s focus on these other factors — along with other considerations such as professional well-being, mentorship, flexible working arrangements, and improved work culture — can create an overall environment that is far more conducive to fostering higher satisfaction among lawyers who then in turn will want to stay at the firm, resulting in the kind of stickiness that has faded from the legal industry since the pandemic.

Not to mention that fostering a work culture that promotes higher satisfaction among its professionals is a much less expensive proposition than paying increasingly higher salaries each year.

Telling your firm’s story

The panel also observed that it is this internal conflict of feeling underappreciated or not being valued — whether the feeling comes from brand or origination issues or from problems with management or personnel — that is critical for firms’ marketing professionals to understand. And this is important not only to improve recruitment of top legal talent to the firm, but to mitigate any outward migration of the firm’s own top talent. “Whatever the cause that results in lawyers not feeling valued, that feeling is often at the heart of their leaving,” one panelist explained.

A key part of solving this question of why is being able to tell the firm’s story and leveraging that information to improve recruitment and retention, the panelist added.

Another panelist explained that she saw marketing budgets going up across the board because many new hires are insisting on a level of marketing support that they were missing in the places they left. “And that means that firms need to ask themselves, ‘Do we have a marketing team ready and deployed to support our partners?’�ĝ she asked.

Other panelists agreed that while platforms and support are important, it is the ability to tell the firm’s story that will determine success much of the time. The panel stressed that those marketing and recruitment professionals who use their resources and cite real-world examples and real-life numbers — such as examples of past hires or laterals who then thrived at the firm — often see those factors make a greater impact.

For example, one panelist described how their own firm — using its own data around previous legal talent hires made over the past decade — determined which individuals succeeded and what particular attributes those hires had. The firm then was able to go into the market for new hires with a clear blueprint for what kind of talent would best thrive at the firm. In this way, the firm saw some clear strategies it could enact to increase the chances that any new hires would thrive at the firm, the panelist explained. “We saw that if we immediately kept new hires engaged in work and didn’t lose sight of giving new and younger talent a voice in the firm, that we were better able to create that glue that keeps our talent satisfied,” the panelist said.

Another panelist agreed, adding that integration during the on-boarding process is also key. “Firms should look for organic situations in which to place new talent to help them find those opportunities within the firm,” the panelist noted, adding that law firms need to invest in their marketing professionals to enable them to tell their firms’ story. “Equipping the messengers to be the hands and feet of the organization brings the brand to light,” she said. “Storytelling is the key.”

Many on the panel agreed that the role of law firm marketing professionals in talent matters is not something that just happens upon hiring but should continue throughout any new hires’ tenure with the firm. “It’s important for the firm to remember why this or that particular person was hired in the first place,” one panelist said. “And it’s not just about whether new hires are meeting expectations or are meeting their metrics — rather, it’s about whether we, as a firm, are meeting their expectations that we set out when they were hired.”

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And given the close relationship between in-house legal departments and their outside counsel, it is important for law firms to understand and anticipate the shifting responsibilities that GCs are facing. Indeed, firms should be asking themselves how they can better understand the changing needs of their in-house clients and best deliver the kind of legal services that are most needed.

This was the central quandary discussed at several panels during the Thomson Reuters Institute’s recent , especially in a keynote panel that featured law firm managing partners (MPs), corporate GCs, and other company executives.

Indeed, that panel shed light on what panelists described as a “fraught relationship between GCs and MPs, especially around pricing and staffing”, and said that what’s changed significantly from pre-pandemic times is that corporate clients may now have the upper hand in the relationship. “Most law firms are facing pressures, yet firm leaders still have a different sense than do GCs in that they — the outside lawyer — are still in charge of the relationship,” said one panelist. “Yet, client pressures on pricing, efficiency, and service delivery have ratcheted up — something you can see in how RFPs [request for proposals] are written today — so clearly, this is no longer true.”

Seeking collaboration with their outside firms

Many client-side panelists said their organizations were always looking for the opportunity to collaborate with their outside law firms and that those firms that are developing more collaborative relationships can really set themselves apart from the competition. “Unfortunately, there is still too much institutional arrogance on the part of many outside lawyers, especially senior partners,” said another panelist. “Law firm partners would be smart to remember that many in-house lawyers may be smarter than they are given credit for, especially today’s crop of more tech-savvy associates.”

For more on the Thomson Reuters Institute’s recent 31st Annual Law Firm Marketing Partner Forum, check out our

Indeed, as technology shrinks the legal piece of the corporate spend pie, law firms should be looking for other work they could be doing for the client, such as those tasks that could highlight outside lawyers’ expertise in so-called softer skills such as emotional intelligence and communication, one panelist said.

Indeed, many corporate-side panelists said, until law firm lawyers sit in an in-house seat, they don’t really see how clients use the legal advice that many law firms supply. “It’s like being at a hotel,” another panelist explained. “You have to give your clients what they want. If they want feather pillows, give them feather pillows — don’t give them a cement block to rest their head upon.”

Unfortunately, many lawyers aren’t trained that way, and law firms need to make their lawyers, especially new hires, understand what legal service means to the client. Firms need to focus on training associates in real-life and how to become a better service partner — training that new associates are not getting today in law schools, panelists said.

The client-centric law firm

What do terms like service partner, collaboration, or — another hot button term — being a client-centric law firm really mean to law firms and how do those ideas impact their day-to-day operations?

Another panel addressed that directly, exploring what it means for a law firm to shift to a client-centric model. The first step in any shift of this sort is a critical focus on client assessment, the panel explained, so that firms can determine which clients are getting which levels of service and, more importantly, which clients the firm may not be serving well.

Firms should then move on from assessment to a more holistic approach to how the firm serves its clients. A key client program should be established and run by the firm’s business development department, with the critical factor being that each client should be mapped out to determine what they do and what their everyday legal needs are, panelists said. This could lead to, for example, building software for clients in the IP space, mostly on collaborative platforms, that include data sharing, continuing legal education (CLE), training, and billing platform compatibility, among other features.

“Remember, this kind of client-centric initiative only works if clients know about it. It’s important that the extra amount of work and effort put in must be communicated to the client, otherwise it is lost.”

And as part of the pitch proposal framework, this work should be offered as a value-add, and include such things as placing secondaries, establishing CLE opportunities, and connecting clients with communications and finance professionals.

“Remember, however, this kind of client-centric initiative only works if clients know about it,” said one panelist. “It’s important that the extra amount of work and effort put in must be communicated to the client, otherwise it is lost.”

For firms to truly become more client-centric, however, they have to understand that today’s clients want to expand their needs and seek partners in the legal realm to do so, and that means more touchpoints and connections, externally. Firms and their lawyers need to understand that clients don’t simply want to hear from firms repeatedly just to check in, instead clients want outside law firms that understand and anticipate their needs and can communicate how they’re bringing value to the relationship.

“To be seen as a client-centric firm, it’s important to create an internal culture around delivering legal services and, more critically, communicating that ideal to clients, showing them what the firm fully represents in value to them,” the panelist added.

This is the third and final in series of blog posts featuring key takeaways from the recent Thomson Reuters Institute’s 31st Annual Law Firm Marketing Partner Forum.

Indeed, while most law firms have client team initiatives, many of these are waning or in need of a strategic boost, according to a recent workshop at the Thomson Reuters Institute’s 31st Annual Law Firm Marketing Partner Forum held late last month. In fact, the workshop was one of a number of panels and workshops at the Forum that dealt with the issue of client teams — sometimes called strategic accounts — and how law firms can see real value in terms of higher client spend and stronger cross-selling opportunities when these teams are utilized in the right way.

Turning key clients into a strategic account is a critical step if the firm hopes to retain and grow the specific clients that are identified as strategically important to the firm’s future. The panelists said that identifying those clients seen as key by firm leadership — whether as ongoing strong business partners or as potential untapped sources of business in other areas — is necessary for success.

For more on the Thomson Reuters Institute’s recent 31st Annual Law Firm Marketing Partner Forum, check out our

“Firms should identify targeted clients — and be selective,” one panelist advised. “Firm leaders should ask themselves, what do they want to see in a client? And what about the client’s size, industry, location, and other factors makes this an important client? All these selected clients should have identified growth targets.” Panelists cautioned that too many times, firms get bogged down in questions such as this because they are trained to view all clients as valuable. Yet, this can be a costly mistake, especially if the firm hasn’t identified each client’s current value to the firm first.

The value discussion

In fact, a panelist explained, the client team discussion should spark some introspection by firm leaders about how the firm is defining value itself. If it’s all about growing revenue and building relationships with value, then a direct conversation about what clients see as value is necessary.

“Firm leadership needs to ask itself, what does value mean to our clients? What do our clients most need?” another panelist said, adding that firms need to start with gathering client feedback, bringing in some data analysis to better understand what clients are saying about the firm overall, and then conducting follow-up client interviews.

Panelists pointed out that there is a need for gathering both internal and external client feedback. “You have to begin by questioning the client,” said a panelist. “Ask them what they are they thinking, what is important to them, and — most importantly — what will be important to them in five years.”

Indeed, several panels across the course of the Forum cited the critical importance of leveraging client feedback to improve relationships, secure continued or new legal work, and uncover more business opportunities. “It’s about building stories and using feedback to gain insight that will allow you to see other areas in which the firm could help the client,” the panelist said, noting that it’s also important to use client feedback, and especially quotes from clients, to help communicate to firm partners about these client initiatives, ostensibly to build buy-in for a more expansive client team initiative.

“Overall, the key steps in this process are first, finding the client voice, then adding data, and finally, framing it around a best practice way of doing it,” another panelist explained, adding that only later should the firm bring in its professionals from finance or IT to add more value and aid the process. “Again, this is often hard to do in legal because there is no patient capital.”

Creating the client team

Not surprisingly, the key component to any successful client team venture is teamwork, the panel said, but even that has to be well thought out. “Teamwork is more than just bringing others in. There has to be a rationale for what you’re doing.” And although there are not hard and fast rules for who or what makes up a client team, many panelists suggested some parameters, such as a team should be no more than 7 to 9 professionals, maximum, and should include both younger partners and at least one senior associate.

And because succession was the original intent of client teams, it’s important to remember that some older partners may view such activities with suspicion and may want to steer their clients away from what they may see as encroachment by other partners.

One way around that, and to foment stronger buy-in from partners, is for the firm to gather key metrics — such as revenue growth and relationship growth — on the clients under consideration to be served by client teams. For example, one panelist suggested that firms could start with a client survey that encouraged partner engagement — but don’t overestimate how much clients love your firm. Firms should leverage competitive intelligence so leaders can show partners what other law firms are getting business from this client.

Once a client is identified and a team is brought together, don’t get hung up on the overall structure of client teams — a too common mistake. “Don’t fall into analysis paralysis. It is a powerful move just to get the key partners around the table,” said another panelist. “But it is important to have that discussion on delivery and growth, even if those two areas are broken up into two separate teams.”

Finally, accountability must also play a role, both with team leaders and firm leadership, in order to institutionalize the client team initiative. For example, performance metrics must be tied to compensation in some way, and all members should share best practices among all the teams. There also should be a continual process to review which clients and team leaders are involved; further, a budget should be established to demonstrates commitment and seriousness on the part of firm management.

Overall, panelists stressed, the establishment of client teams should be seen as a way for firms to answer the question of what does client-centric service look like?

“Leadership doesn’t want to be seen as driving this alone — it should not be a top-down decision,” advised another panelist. “This has to be a business initiative undertaken as a firmwide process, not simply as a marketing initiative alone.

This is the second in series of blog posts featuring key takeaways from the recent Thomson Reuters Institute’s 31st Annual Law Firm Marketing Partner Forum.

That means 2024 is poised for significant transformation in the field of marketing operations for many law firms, according to several panelists at the Thomson Reuters Institute’s held last week. Indeed, this trending development will drive a marketing tech evolution as economic and technological pressures drive firms to hone and maximize their marketing tech stack.

Further, this will lead to a rise in marketing operations as firms seek a renewed focus on professionalizing their marketing operations, to better steer both marketing and business development activities towards increased efficiency and better client service.

But who are these new faces of the marketing department and what new skills are they bringing to law firms to lead this initiative? And perhaps more importantly, how can these new roles drive innovation, enhance client engagement, and elevate a firm’s overall marketing efforts?

First, as panelists explained, firms have to understand the overall role of marketing operations within a law firm’s marketing and business development department. Marketing ops should be seen as the control tower of a firm’s marketing initiatives, panelists said, acting as the heartbeat of the marketing department and managing everything from budgeting to staffing.

Who are these new faces of the marketing department and what new skills are they bringing to law firms? And perhaps more importantly, how can these new roles drive innovation, enhance client engagement, and elevate a firm’s overall marketing efforts?

To achieve this, however, many law firms will need to fortify their marketing teams with data analysts who can decipher customer preferences, spot trends, and measure return on investment. Not surprisingly, generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) and other advanced technologies have the potential to revolutionize content creation, automate tasks, analyze vast data, and deliver personalized client communications — again, greatly aiding firms that want to improve their efficiency. Panelists identified several other trends driving the overall rise of marketing operations, including:

• • • Increased account-based marketing — In the quest for client trust and enduring relationships, firms will embrace key account marketing strategies.
    • Unified data era — The synergy between CMOs and their IT counterparts will give rise to unified data platforms, offering real-time insights that all lawyers can access.
    • Process evolution — More law firms will adopt formal work management platforms, offering collaboration and streamlined workflows that, again, can be readily accessed by firm lawyers.
    • Client experience will be at the center — More law firms will embrace a client experience strategy in order to attract new clients and solidify the firm’s position in the marketplace.

The value of a client-centric firm

Driving the further development of marketing operations within law firms is the desire by firm leaders to position their firm as more client centric. To do that, however, panelists explained that leaders have to make sure the firm is adding value and is explaining that value not only to the firm’s clients, but to the firm’s partners as well.

For more on the Thomson Reuters Institute’s recent 31st Annual Law Firm Marketing Partner Forum, check out our

Since just before the pandemic, clients have become more focused on value, often asking, What can my outside law firms do for me? To answer that question, panelists explained that law firms need to be holding more value conversations with clients, establishing regular contact — beyond just that of the relationship partner. This way, firm leaders can expect to get an idea of what value means to a particular client and what that client needs both on a daily basis and in the longer term.

“If value is all about growing revenue and building relationships, then a direct conversation about what clients see as value is necessary,” said another panelist.

Yet, the changes that law firms will need to implement to make their marketing operations more streamlined, client-centric, and successful are not small. For example, there’s not a lot of on-boarding of non-lawyers — data scientists, project managers, and other professionals — and that will have to change. Indeed, firms need to see overall improvement in their project management efforts, panelists noted, as the skills needed in successful project management are critical in order to get matters done, form plans, and see the steps needed for each task. Further, those with great communication skills, especially around technology, will be in great demand in order to explain the value of tech investment to partners.

“There is major change coming to law firms’ talent structure,” said one panelist. “Firms have to be more inclusive, and that means there has to be pro-development for non-lawyers within firms’ hiring processes — and CMOs will have to be the ones pushing this in order to build out their law firms’ competency models.”

This is the first in series of blog posts featuring key takeaways from the recent Thomson Reuters Institute’s 31st Annual Law Firm Marketing Partner Forum.