Researchers spoke to 100 GCs of large companies – 50 UK-based and 50 in the US – in a variety of sectors including healthcare and pharmaceuticals, financial services, infrastructure, technology and the public sector. 

They found GCs want content that is relevant, topical, but most importantly, written by a qualified legal expert with their own insights. 

Three-quarters say their law firm’s website is their main source of information, with 52% reviewing it at least once a week. 

However, most used other sources too, including email alerts, newsletters, news stories, podcasts, webinars, and white papers – suggesting that firms wanting to reach GCs need to use a variety of different platforms. 

The research highlights several reasons why GCs engage with their law firm’s content, from identifying business opportunities and generating ideas to keeping up with case law, current issues and industry appointments. 

Connor Kinnear, Chief Marketing Officer at Passle, says: “A proper content strategy is fast becoming a must have if firms want to keep clients and attract new business. That’s backed up by our research findings, with 61% of GCs preferring to work with law firms that proactively update them with legal developments and 48% actively saying they wouldn’t work with those that couldn’t. 

“Across the various sectors, that’s a huge chunk of the hundreds of thousands of potential clients who may be dismissing firms, even without them knowing it, simply because they do not have an effective content strategy in place. 

“What’s clear is that time-poor General Counsel now expect a lot more from the lawyers they employ and are much more likely to want to work with firms that can keep them informed in a way that is both sufficiently detailed but quick and easy to digest.” 

More than 80% of the GCs interviewed were involved in appointing law firms for their company and almost all said they would review a firm’s public profile – for example, its website and social media channels – before making a decision. Over half (56%) would be more likely to ask for a lawyer by name if they had previously read articles written by them.

Adam Wardel, Chief People Officer and GC at nClouds in the US, says: “The ability to succinctly provide expertise is as much about marketing as it is about good lawyering.

“People in our position are engaged with more than just legal - we deal with HR issues, acquisitions, compliance and more. We’re busy and we want law firms that can tell us the critical information in a concise way.

“Firms need to stop thinking about GCs and CLOs as lawyers and instead approach us as legally minded business owners, but many just aren’t there yet.” 

Abhijit Mukhopadhyay, President (Legal) and GC at the London-based international conglomerate Hinduja Group, adds: “I tend to pick up the phone to talk to the firms directly, but it would be helpful if they were able to proactively share updates that were timely and relevant to me, and that would certainly be something that would make them stand out.”

Read the full results of the GC research study in the Strategy/Planning section in our Knowledge Bank