This literature review investigates factors influencing the choice and future buying intentions for transactional legal services at large law firms. In doing so, two marketing concepts, namely perceived service value and commitment are integrated and their relationships examined.
There are two parts to this literature review. Part 1 draws on the services marketing literature and reviews past research on legal services’ credence attributes, future buying intentions, perceived value and affective and calculative commitment with particular focus on professional services. This part serves to gain a better understanding of the conceptual elements more broadly that would otherwise have been dismissed.
Part 2 discusses the results of the systematic literature review undertaken on future buying intentions/the choice of legal services and large law firms. The words “choice” and “future buying intentions” are used interchangeably, implying the equivalent meaning in this context. The systematic literature review was conducted in addition to Part 1 because very little academic research on legal services could be found. It served to further circumstantiate and identify elements that are relevant in the legal context.
From my findings there are commonly scholars from four different academic disciplines who examine particular aspects of the legal industry, i.e. legal scholars, economists, marketing scholars and sociologists. While legal scholars frequently discuss and analyze the law and ethical aspects of lawyering, economists often focus on the growth of law firms and emphasize the asymmetry of information between customers and service providers. Marketing scholars typically seek to understand particular constructs such as client-attorney relationships, satisfaction or service quality and identify choice criteria in determining the essence of particular constructs from a consumer’s and/or corporate client’s perspective. Sociologists on the other hand often study the legal profession as a whole. Studies concerned with buying intentions in the legal context usually address the value of legal services in general, law firm growth and/or decision-making. Prior empirical research that focuses on purchasing-decisions for transactional legal work at large law firms or legal work at law firms in general, is scant and mostly undertaken in the United States.
Table of Contents
What is transactional legal work at large law firms?
Part 1: Services marketing and professional services
Method to identifying the relevant literature
Inclusion and exclusion criteria
Synthesizing qualitative and quantitative research on buying intentions and/or choice for legal services at large law firms
Finding: Law firms and their capacity insurance
Finding: The complexity of legal work
Finding: Legal fees and special arrangements
Finding: The nature of client-attorney relationships
Finding: The value of firm and individual reputation
Finding: Globalization and the demand for consistent legal services
Additional findings: Underlying trends frequently discussed in the literature considered
The impact of the reduction in asymmetric information
The changing role of in-house counsel
Outsourcing legal work to lower cost providers
Identified gaps in Part 1 and Part 2
Conclusion
Research Objectives and Key Topics
This literature review investigates the factors that influence corporate buying intentions and the selection of transactional legal services at large law firms. By integrating marketing concepts such as perceived service value and commitment, the work bridges the gap between services marketing theory and the specific, complex legal industry environment, addressing both the strategic needs of corporate clients and the evolving dynamics of legal service provision.
- Analysis of purchase criteria for complex legal services
- Role of service quality, reputation, and perceived risk in decision-making
- Impact of the rise of in-house legal departments on law firm demand
- Examination of commitment types (affective vs. calculative) in legal relationships
- Systematic review of empirical and qualitative research in the legal industry
Excerpt from the Book
Finding: Law firms and their capacity insurance
In their study in 1985, Chayes and Chayes opine that one of the reasons why corporations desire large law firms is because of their size and the related ability to deploy highly skilled legal staff, at extremely short notice, to handle peak load problems. This seems obvious as at this time corporations neither had the legal manpower nor the legal skills to undertake most of the transactional legal work in-house (e.g. Chayes & Chayes, 1985; Burk & McGowan, 2010). But does this still apply today where most corporations have established their own legal departments (e.g. Daly, 1997)? More recent literature insinuates so and finds that corporate legal work is increasingly complex, large-scale and driven by tight-deadlines that require multi-practice law firms with offices in several locations and a good mix of industry experience (Galanter & Palay, 1990; Silver, 2000; Thomas et al, 2002). Furthermore, because clients assume that a single big firm will minimize transaction costs, clients desire larger firms to handle their large-scale work, mobilize skilled legal staff and take advantage of new technologies at very short notice (e.g. Chayes & Chayes, 1985; Galanter & Palay, 1990; Thomas et al, 2002; Schwarcz, 2006). While this seems plausible, Galanter and Palay (1990) do however admit that there is little evidence to support these conclusions (Galanter & Palay, 1990).
Summary of Chapters
What is transactional legal work at large law firms?: This chapter defines the scope of complex transactional legal work, emphasizing the interplay between various practice groups required to manage high-stakes corporate business transactions.
Part 1: Services marketing and professional services: This section explores how generic services marketing frameworks, such as the search, experience, and credence model, apply to the highly specialized and professional nature of legal services.
Method to identifying the relevant literature: This chapter outlines the rigorous, four-stage systematic literature review process used to identify and filter relevant studies across four academic disciplines.
Inclusion and exclusion criteria: This chapter details the strict parameters applied to ensure that the literature considered meets high standards of relevance and evidence quality for this review.
Synthesizing qualitative and quantitative research on buying intentions and/or choice for legal services at large law firms: This chapter introduces the thematic analysis approach used to synthesize diverse findings into key themes relevant to the legal industry.
Finding: Law firms and their capacity insurance: This chapter discusses how large law firms act as an insurance mechanism, providing the scale and specialized expertise necessary for corporations to manage unexpected or complex transaction volumes.
Finding: The complexity of legal work: This chapter examines how the high degree of legal complexity requires specialized firm structures and how this contrasts with emerging trends of legal standardization.
Finding: Legal fees and special arrangements: This chapter analyzes the shift from traditional hourly billing to alternative fee arrangements and how these impact the corporate decision to purchase legal services.
Finding: The nature of client-attorney relationships: This chapter explores the evolution of the client-attorney bond, contrasting traditional long-term trust-based relationships with modern, more transactional "hired gun" approaches.
Finding: The value of firm and individual reputation: This chapter evaluates the relative importance of firm-wide reputation versus individual lawyer expertise in driving corporate hiring decisions.
Finding: Globalization and the demand for consistent legal services: This chapter details how the internationalization of business necessitates consistent legal support across jurisdictions and the unique role large global law firms play in this regard.
Additional findings: Underlying trends frequently discussed in the literature considered: This section covers broader market trends such as information asymmetry reduction, the changing role of in-house counsel, and the realities of legal outsourcing.
Identified gaps in Part 1 and Part 2: This chapter summarizes the limitations in existing academic research, highlighting the lack of empirical data on repeat purchasing behavior and the geographic bias of current studies.
Conclusion: This final chapter synthesizes the main findings, confirming that the topic remains under-researched and necessitates further investigation into the antecedents of corporate buying intentions.
Keywords
Transactional legal services, large law firms, buying intentions, corporate legal departments, perceived service value, professional services marketing, information asymmetry, client-attorney relationship, legal outsourcing, firm reputation, credence attributes, commitment, relationship-specific investment, corporate decision-making, systematic literature review.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this research?
The research focuses on identifying the factors that drive corporations to choose specific large law firms for their complex transactional legal work and what influences their intentions to repurchase those services.
What are the central themes discussed in the work?
The central themes include law firm capacity as an insurance mechanism, the complexity of legal work, fee structures and alternative billing, the nature of client-attorney relationships, firm reputation, and the impact of globalization on legal service demand.
What is the primary goal of this literature review?
The primary goal is to integrate services marketing theory with legal-specific empirical evidence to provide a framework for understanding corporate purchasing decisions and the antecedents of future buying intentions.
Which scientific methods were employed?
The work utilizes a systematic literature review methodology, including a rigorous, four-stage search strategy and a thematic analysis to synthesize both qualitative and quantitative research findings.
What content is covered in the main body?
The main body examines foundational concepts like perceived value and commitment, presents a systematic review of the legal literature, identifies key industrial trends, and integrates these into a coherent conceptual model.
What are the key characterising keywords?
Key terms include transactional legal services, large law firms, buying intentions, professional services, perceived value, commitment, information asymmetry, and legal outsourcing.
How does the in-house counsel role influence law firm selection?
The rise of sophisticated in-house legal departments has shifted decision-making power away from CEOs directly to legal professionals, who now act as gatekeepers, supervise external counsel, and increasingly challenge traditional hourly billing models.
Why is the concept of "credence attributes" significant in this context?
Credence attributes are significant because legal services are difficult for clients to evaluate even after consumption, which creates severe information asymmetry and forces clients to rely on reputation and trust-based signals when choosing a law firm.
Does the work address the trend of outsourcing legal work?
Yes, it clarifies that while there is significant media attention on outsourcing to low-cost international providers, empirical evidence indicates that most complex legal work is still retained by large, renowned law firms, with outsourcing often limited to back-office or standardized tasks.
What is the conclusion regarding the current state of academic research?
The author concludes that the field of corporate buying intentions for legal services is significantly under-researched, particularly outside of the United States, and that existing studies are often too reliant on secondary data rather than direct empirical evidence.
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- Dr. Katja Friedrich (Autor:in), 2017, Transactional Legal Services and Corporations' Buying Intentions, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/385687
