Hi there,
Are most law firm rankings useless?
As our VP of Data & Growth here at PERSUIT, Jordan Weinstein, recently put it, the prevailing directories in the industry are largely based on subjective, pay-to-play opportunities that have little connection to actual performance or results.
As Jordan further explained to me, even those rankings that are based on objective measures — like profit per equity partner or total revenue — are marginally useful; are firm profits really a good measure of how much value a firm is adding to your organization?
If anything, the strongest argument is just the opposite; firms are becoming more profitable because they are becoming more efficient, but rather than providing additional value to their clients, they’re pocketing the savings realized from those efficiencies.
But in any event, my follow-on question to Jordan was this:
“If not these rankings, then what?”
In-house teams want to know:
Is this the right firm, team, price?
And firms want to know:
How do I compare to my peers so I can better make the case that we are the right firm, team, and price on this matter?
But until recently (and yep, here’s my shameless plug for PERSUIT 🤷♂️ ) there’s been no easy way for either one of them to know.
Which brings me to my point and why I both agree and disagree with Jordan’s position.
Firms rankings are imperfect but they’re also necessary. At least for now.
As I recently heard a prestigious global firm partner explain it:
"With pricing, our clients say they want multiple options — billable hours, custom agreements, and project-based rates.
But moving beyond billables requires a shift in thinking for our clients to say 'Yes, I trust you. Go do it and get it done the best way you see fit at the price we’ve agreed to.'”
The marketplace for legal is changing.
But we’re not there yet.
So whether based on subjective criteria or even objective data, firm rankings give us some comfort that our decisions are defensible and that our measure of trust is informed by something more than collegial ties or membership to the same golf club.
In case you missed it (and our team is somewhat obnoxious about it, so I’d be surprised if you did), PERSUIT has now added a new ranking to that arsenal.
The PERSUIT 50: The Most Trusted Law Firms On PERSUIT.
Our rankings include the most trusted firms on PERSUIT as measured by the total dollar value of work awarded on our platform.
Because the way we see it, the more you buy something the more you trust it.
And doesn’t it all come down to trust?
But I’m curious to hear your thoughts.
If prestige or PEP isn’t the right proxy for measuring how much you can trust your firms, then what is?
Cheers,
Jim
