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Corporate Counsel Using Web Sites and Search Engines to Find Outside Counsel
How do corporations find new outside counsel when they don't have a personal reference? According to this recent Annual Chief Legal Officer Survey released by Altman Weil and LEXIS/Martindale Hubbell, 44.1 percent of companies rely on law firm Web sites, edging out legal directories (like Martindale Hubbell) as the most popular method for finding outside counsel. And while Google and search engines are among the less popular methods, 21 percent of companies use them to identify outside counsel. Even more interesting, 73 percent of companies surveyed reported that even when they did not have a personal reference, they could find new outside counsel within a matter of hours (Survey at 11).
What's the lesson here? Your Internet presence and findability matter to getting new business, as much or more than directories like Martindale that are on the endangered-species list. And because companies are move quickly and won't spend much time before making a decision, your first impression had better be a good one.
Posted by Carolyn Elefant on October 18, 2006 at 04:09 PM | Permalink
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