Whether a law firm has been around for a decade or a century, it’s invariably used that time to build up some sort of reputation. Buyers of legal services and peers in the market have some sense of what to expect when they encounter, say, Jones Day or Baker McKenzie, both perennial winners in consultancy Acritas’ ranking of law firm brands.

But buyers have a broader slate of options in 2020 than ever before, whether that means handling more work in-house, hiring temporary lawyers during a crunch, or turning to a recently launched “alternative provider” to address the massive pile of contracts they need to manage.