Client Feedback for Legal Rankings: What You Need to Know

Understanding how client surveys are conducted, the formats for requesting information, and the time clients have to complete these surveys is crucial for law firms. This article outlines the general aspects of the research phase to help you organize your work effectively.

Survey Formats

Client surveys can be conducted either orally or in writing. In oral interviews, the researcher asks questions over the phone without being limited to a specific format. However, in practice, researchers often offer an alternative where the client can request to receive the questions via email and respond in writing.

The general approach to analyzing feedback is roughly the same across all legal rankings. However, the specific questions, survey format, and number of nominations a client needs to provide recommendations for can vary.

There can even be differences within a single ranking. For instance, Chambers created individual questionnaires for each nomination this year.

Survey Structure

Surveys typically include:

• Open-ended questions about the overall characteristics of the firm, the services provided, and evaluations of the lawyers and partners who handled the client's project.

• Rating parameters, where clients assess the firm on a scale from "very weak" to "very strong." These parameters usually cover aspects such as client service, billing, knowledge of the law and the client’s business, and the innovativeness of solutions.

This year, this survey format was used by Legal 500 and Benchmark Litigation. In the Restructuring and Insolvency nomination, Chambers used a mixed format, allowing clients to choose from multiple-choice answers and leave text comments.

How Clients Submit Feedback

In some cases, rankings send questions directly via email. These are usually open-ended questions without a multiple-choice component. For example, the Dispute Resolution survey for Chambers 2022 was structured this way.

Changing Requirements

Requirements can change annually. For example, this year, Chambers and The Legal 500 sent clients surveys with short deadlines (2–4 days). Chambers also created individual questionnaires for each nomination.

Survey Questions

Every year, new aspects are added to the questionnaires, and the structure of the questions changes. For instance, Chambers added questions about the firm's adherence to Diversity and Inclusion principles, particularly gender equality, in certain nominations. Legal 500 included a whole section on how the firm operated during the pandemic.

How to Fill Out Surveys

Typically, clients receive an email with a unique link to the survey. By following this link, the client can write and submit their responses.

Purpose of the Survey

Through collecting feedback, researchers analyze the firm's market attractiveness, client loyalty, pricing transparency, client service, partner involvement, and identify the firm's strongest lawyers.

For more information on the challenges law firms face and how to overcome them, read the article on lawfirm.ru.