Summary: Acritas’ annual US Alternative Legal Brand Index placed Thomson Reuters as the leader.
In a new approach to looking at the legal market, industry expert Acritas published their US Alternative Legal Brand Index. The purpose of the new Index is to identify how alternative legal brands affect the legal market and how much power they have.
The Index is gathered by compiling interviews from the senior in-house counsel of $1 billion+ revenue organizations around the world used in the Sharplegal US survey 2017 dataset. There were 601 respondent interviews, 276 of which discussed the alternative legal service providers they worked with. Acritas conducts the telephone interviews throughout the entire year in 55 countries, using the local languages of each country, according to a press release from Acritas.
The senior in-house counsel named organizations that provide legal services but are not a law firm. Of those, they are then asked which organization they prefer the most. The Index also looks at which organizations take advantage of modern innovative practices, ranking the legal brands in three areas: awareness, favorability, and innovation.
Acritas has found that while the legal industry focuses on which work is delivered by lawyers and non-lawyers, clients only care about a solution to the work. To address this difference in priority, Acritas created the Alternative Legal Brand Index to show the diversity of legal services that organizations turn to for getting their work done in an effective and cost-efficient manner.
The company providing alternative legal services taking the top spot was Thomson Reuters. Acritas Vice President Lizzy Duffy said, “Thomson Reuters’ investment in technology is coming through strongly as the underlying reason why senior in-house counsel are attracted to their offer. Their products and services are enabling legal departments to innovate and drive efficiency in how they organize and conduct their legal work.”
Thomson Reuters ranked in the top three for all three categories. Thomson Reuters Legal President Susan Taylor Martin said, “We are honoured to be named the strongest alternative legal brand in Acritas’ inaugural US Alternative Legal Brand Index. We are laser-focused on helping law firms and legal departments navigate an increasingly dynamic, global legal landscape. So we are incredibly grateful that our clients recognize our efforts to enable innovative approaches to doing legal work using our technology, content and domain expertise.”
Taking the second place spot was Axiom Legal Services and Lexis Nexis in third. Axiom has come a long way since 2013, nearly tripling its brand awareness. Duffy explained, “Axiom is favored for its high quality, flexibility and pricing model. Recent news of Axiom’s client wins show it is successful in rising up the value chain.”
Other top brands were Deloitte Legal and PwC Legal. Duffy added, “Dozens of different brands were mentioned in our study, ranging from technology platforms for research and information to outsourcing models delivering legal work. From the clients’ perspective, one thing is clear: efficiency is king but quality won’t be compromised and with an increasing choice of flexible solutions, it doesn’t have to be.”
Do you think senior in-house counsel will be turning to alternative legal services even more in the coming years? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
To learn more about Acritas’ Indexes, read these articles:
- Acritas Names Jones Day as No. 1 Law Firm
- Acritas Reveals Brand Growth is Linked to Revenue Growth in Law Firms
- Acritas Survey Ranks the Most Popular Law Firm Brands
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