In helping many law firms win and retain business during the past 10 years, practice areas such as litigation have told us they are finding it increasingly difficult to predict where their next instructions are coming from. Changes such as the Woolf reforms are affecting the size of their market and the potential it offers. Some lawyers even contend that the nature of their work means they can only react to their market. We disagree.
The traditional litigation market is indeed shrinking. As Grant Thornton said in its research report The Future of Resolution Advice: “External dispute resolution lawyers have to compete for their share of work not only with other law firms, but also with the increasingly self-sufficient in-house teams. Where external assistance is required, businesses gravitate towards law firms that can quickly identify their needs, meet them and provide perceived added value”.
