For future reference

WHEN visiting a stranger's home, the contents of their bookcase can tell you a lot about their character. Similarly, a bookcase in an office can provide an insight into the type of person who works there, and what their profession is. The legal profession is no exception. In fact, the current plethora of legal directories should provide any legal eagle with sufficient volumes to line their walls, floor and ceiling.

For many years, the market has been dominated by a handful of leading publishers specialising in directories and related legal magazines. But the increasing number of law firms opening branch offices around the world has created new opportunities for extending the geographical scope of these directories. Similarly, the expansion of law firms into new, specialist areas has created new niches for directories to target. This has resulted in an influx of new directories from both existing and new publishers.

Chambers and Partners, and Legal 500, are well-established, UK-published directories. Legal 500 is published by London-based Legalease and is designed to provide law firms with a benchmark for their own activities, and as a marketing tool with which to promote their practice. Leveraging the reputation it has built in the UK, The Legal 500 Series now also includes The European Legal 500, The Asia Pacific Legal 500, and The US Legal 500. (See www.icclaw.com).

The US version is the latest addition to the Legal 500 library and reflects the publisher's continuing geographical expansion. "The globalisation of legal practice demands a globalisation of the provision of legal business information," says Mark Cusick, publishing director at Legalease.

London-based Chambers and Partners has followed a similar path with the recent launch of the Chambers Global directory to complement the highly successful Chambers Directory UK. Chambers' reputation is well-established, with its UK version now in its tenth year of publication. Chambers also cites the steady globalisation of business as the reason behind the creation of Chambers Global, and points to the potential for region-specific versions in the future.

James Baxter of Chambers and Partners says, "The quality of our research and writing staff means a greater emphasis on both quality editorial and analysis. Our research is also audited by the British Market Research Board". (See www.chambersandpartners.com).

The US, meanwhile, has its own clutch of directory publishers. Martindale-Hubble dominates the field, with a US version and an international version, the Martindale-Hubble International Law Directory.

The trend towards expansion into other geographical areas is opening the field to new arrivals. A relatively new directory, in its fifth year, is European Counsel 3000, or EC3000, published by London-based PLC Publications. As the name suggests, this directory focuses on the European legal market. However, recent years have seen the number of jurisdictions covered by this publication increase to such an extent that the 2000 edition will be the first under its new title, Global Counsel 3000, or GC3000. (See www.plcinfo.com).

GC3000 intends to compete with the likes of Chambers and Legal 500 by providing extensive additional research beyond the traditional listings to add greater value to the directory. Commenting on the growing competition within the market, Baxter says, "Others in the market are not regarding us as competition. The research we carry out is unrivalled."

Faced with such choice, how does a shipping law firm decide not only which directory to use but which to promote itself in?

Since the directories are used in both a search capacity and as a marketing tool, the quality and extent of content and scope of readership would naturally be key deciding factors. Most directories use a combination of questionnaires and both telephone and face-to-face interviews to carry out their research. The information thus gathered is then used to compile company profiles, league tables and qualitative assessment.

Monitoring individual law firm experience with legal directories is a job best left to the directories themselves. But a few examples are illustrative of the way in which different firms use the publications.

Vincent W Lui, of Taiwan-based Lin Liu & Wei law offices, says Martindale-Hubble International is his preferred directory, and cites the background and biographies of lawyers as the most useful feature. This is the only directory his firm uses to promote itself. Lui says the directory's reputation means his firm is happy to be associated with it. Language is identified as the only drawback.

The Legal 500 Series and Martindale-Hubble directories are the favoured sources of Vincent de Brauw of Rotterdam-based law firm Nauta Dutilh. But Nauta's own internal office directory is preferred for frequent use as it also includes partners' experiences, an invaluable tool when choosing a relevant foreign or specialist law firm to contact.

A domestic directory also takes favour over the global directories for Peter Bernard of Vancouver-based barrister and solicitor Campney & Murphy. Although a frequent user of Martindale-Hubble USA, Bernard most regularly reaches for the local Canadian Law List.

Neither do all lawyers reach for the big-name directories. Roger Pitts-Tucker, of London-based solicitor Pitts-Tucker & Co, is a regular user of another UK-based directory, Waterlow's. He uses it primarily as a marketing tool to make others aware of his firm's existence. For daily reference, Pitts-Tucker uses a Law Society directory.

While most law firms believe that it is important to be included in a leading directory in order to market their partners and areas of expertise, and to promote awareness of their practice, it doesn't necessarily follow that any one directory is the favoured source for regular use by everybody in the law firm.

So, are the publishers missing a trick? Is there a niche they have failed to identify, or a problem they have failed to address?

One obvious disadvantage of the traditional printed directory is that, the minute it lands on your desk, fresh off the press, it is out-of-date. No-one has time to leaf through a printed directory to see if a particular person is still with a certain law firm, or whether a telephone number has changed. The only way to ensure that data is completely accurate and continually updated is to provide real-time information.

Enter the internet. But even that has its drawbacks. Never mind thumbing through pages. Equally, no-one has time to scroll through search engines to access sites that may transpire to be offline, uncertain when the site was last updated.

Internet-based corporate information provider Hemmington Scott Ltd thinks it has the answer. London-based Hemmington Scott owns "Europe's largest website for corporate information aimed at key decision-makers, including board directors and corporate financiers". The site currently has ten million page impressions each month. (See www.hemscott.com).

Building on its internet expertise, Hemmington Scott identified what is saw as a gap in the market for providing an easily searchable site devoted to the international legal profession. HSLegal is aimed at inhouse counsel, clients and lawyers in private practice. The completed site will have a number of areas including deals and disputes, editorial, firm and chambers profiles, information exchange, and recruitment.

Deals and disputes is a research tool to enable lawyers and clients alike to search for a firm operating in a specific area. Law firms and chambers can use this to demonstrate their litigation expertise by promoting key disputes they have been involved in.

Editorial allows firms to submit articles in their chosen area of expertise for posting on the site, directly targeting potential clients. Clients are then able to search law firms under a list of over one hundred area headings covering legal classifications (including shipping), FTSE industry classifications or geographical location.

The firms and chambers profile works in a similar way to a page in a directory, including contact details, firms history, partner details, etc. From here it is possible to have a hyperlink back to your own website or to attach your company brochure in PDF format for clients to download. Being interactive also means you can ensure that address, contact, telephone and fax details are always accurate.

An information exchange is already up and running. It is designed to encourage the flow of tips and comment on daily issues, although Hemmington Scott is quick to emphasise that this is intended as "a forum for debate rather than a chat room".

Shipping law firms, for example, could submit all contact and practice details, areas of specialisation, and partner biographies. This web-based facility has the added value over printed directories of allowing subscribers to distribute press releases cost-effectively, to enjoy increased traffic to their own site via the hyperlink, and to exchange ideas daily with other members of the legal profession worldwide.

Hemmington Scott, and the main legal directory publishers, have recognised and responded to the demand from law firms for immediate access to accurate information, and have expanded their products into electronic formats. As Iain Plummer, business development manager at PLC Publications, says "It is important that directory sites are not isolated. They will need to be part of wider research sites in order to generate the necessary level of traffic".

So where does all this technology leave the printed directory?To remain competitive, everyone has to be offering something better than the rest, or offering it faster. Time is money, so any way to make money through less effort is quickly seized upon. This is where the internet is thriving above traditional forms of communication.

For the shipping law firm looking for the fastest and most accurate and effective means of communicating with clients and with the rest of the legal world on a regular basis, the internet must be the way forward. Printed directories still have a place in the legal professional's office. But whether that will be as a well-thumbed reference tool, or as a means of keeping the door wedged open, remains to be seen.