More than a quarter of general counsel would be unlikely to appoint a law firm to a panel or for a major piece of work if it did not have a form of low-cost support centre.

A survey of senior in-house lawyers carried out by Legal Week found that 23% would “probably not” pick a firm without a low-cost centre as they would “question the value I was receiving”. A further 5% said they would never appoint such a firm.