As part of the research process for asialaw Profiles we survey buyers of legal services for their feedback on:

  • Assessment and Rating of law firms and lawyers’ quality of service and work
  • Upcoming market trends

Here is a snapshot of the data for South Korea:

Firm attributes

We ask clients to rate law firms on the following (from 1 poor to 5 excellent)

  • Costs transparency
  • Extensive local/international network
  • Industry sector knowledge
  • Technical ability and innovation
  • Use of technology
  • Value for money
  • Client relationship management
  • Risk management

 
Best firm by individual attribute

 Best firms in order (based on aggregate score):


General statistics

Highest rated law firm attribute: Industry Sector Knowledge                      

Lowest rated law firm attribute: Use of technology

 

Lawyer attributes

We ask clients to rate lawyers based on the following attributes (from 1 poor to 5 excellent)

  • Communication
  • Commercial understanding
  • Country knowledge
  • Industry sector knowledge
  • Listening to and implementing feedback
  • Meeting deadlines
  • Responsiveness and accessibility
  • Technical ability

 

Best lawyers at firm level based on aggregate score

Lee & Ko

General statistics

Highest rated lawyer attribute: Industry Sector Knowledge

Lowest rated lawyer attribute: Technical Ability

 

Market feedback

Topic that concerns clients most

Ethics and compliance including antibribery issues

How law firms can assist clients

  • Provide company relevant alerts based on recent rulings/case studies.
  • Proactively give alert on the potential risk area when regulation is changed or any issues are identified in the field.

 

Which practice area do they anticipate to give more work to external legal counsel in the next 12 months

Labour & Employment

Which practice area do they anticipate to give less work to legal counsel in the next 12 months

Construction & Engineering

 

How can law firms improve their service to clients?

  • Balancing perfection of service and faster response time may be required.
  • Better communication skills and better management of resources (professionals) being put into a case.
  • Certain practice groups are better than others. Working with a law firm of this size, the lack of uniform service level can be a challenge for in-house counsels when managing client expectations.
  • Communicate more frequently to follow up.
  • Consider the urgency and importance when they receive questions from the client.
  • Reduce the time for rendering an legal opinion.
  • Foreign offices at major shipping hubs for more efficient interaction in general - or JV with a reputable international shipping law firm
  • Keep growing more practice areas as we will certainly need more varied legal advices as we grow as well.
  • Need to have more lawyers who have extensive experience in international transactions and litigations.
  • No systematic or regular legal updates or newsletters for clients.
  • Proper fee and simple and clear legal statement.
  • The weakness is the individuals at the firm tend to blend into each other, and I would like to see more diversity in the associates and partners who handled our cases.
  • We are Japanese company so maybe more Japanese lawyers who also speak in Korean very fluently will help to improve their service toward us.

 

Delivering better service is an important part of upselling and cross-selling to existing clients and acquiring new ones. More sophisticated client relationship management can increase revenues per practice area or industry group and expand margins per partner.

Asialaw Data Intelligence Report contains a breakdown of client responses to asialaw Profiles surveys. 

We can identify:

  • How clients perceive your firm and lawyers
  • Concerns that affect their role and how your firm can help them
  • How your firm compares with its peers
  • Market trends for the coming 12 months

 

The Data Intelligence Report will allow your firm to:

  • Assess your firm at multiple levels (firm, practice area, lawyer). 
  • Identify issues clients have with your firm and implement solutions
  • Develop new business development opportunities
  • Prepare strategic or marketing plans based on client growth and needs

An example can be found here

The information will provide you with an enhanced appreciation of who your client respondents are and how they view your firm and practitioners enables you to improve client service delivery.

It will help leverage your firm’s strength’s, address its weaknesses, solidify its client relationships and ultimately increase your firm’s revenues.

For more information contact: William.lo@euromoneyasia.com