Legal Directories and AI?
Following its long march through the law firms, the AI revolution is now starting to reach the legal directories, which have so far prioritised human-based analysis of law firm capabilities.
There’s constantly a debate around the importance of legal directories, and whether they actually serve their purpose: to assist general counsel with finding the right lawyer. Now, some directories are betting on AI to provide potential clients with more accurate and relevant information on the lawyers they instruct.
Last year, Who’s Who Legal (WWL), which was by then a relatively stale legal directory, was acquired by industry giant Lexology, in a move that could shake the way clients encounter lawyers for the first time.
With 770,000 subscribers, Lexology is the biggest global legal intelligence platform, encompassing insights and analysis contributed by experts from lawyers around the world.
WWL’s acquisition means that its global lawyer database now sits alongside Lexology’s enormous thought leadership cache, presenting a unique opportunity for Lexology’s readership of senior in-house counsel to match their specific legal questions with the right legal practitioners.
New Search Functionality
To take advantage of the synergies between the titles, Lexology has launched a new AI search function.
The principle is simple. According to information from Lexology, in-house counsel can “summarise their legal issue in a few sentences and see a list of the most relevant lawyers,” while WWL research “provides independent third-party validation of recognised experts.”
In addition to the above, users will be able to highlight parts of articles in Lexology’s vast stable and base their search on that excerpt.
If the system works correctly, the new feature should allow potential clients to find the best vetted practitioner for their instruction.
How does this work?
Legal directories are increasingly monetising their content, and this is a premium product. A subscription allow firms to customise their lawyer profiles and, among other things, improve the searchability of their practitioners. Law firms without a subscription will be “greyed-out” and appear last in the recommendations.
Assuming a firm has paid for a subscription, this is how it works:
Law firms submit detailed biographies for their lawyers that highlight key cases, skills, qualifications and languages.
If the keywords in their profile match the question or issue the potential client asks, then the lawyer will appear in the search results as a recommended practitioner for that particular instruction.
Source WWL: Demonstration of Who’s Who Legal’s AI-powered search using text from an article
Potential pros
In theory, this functionality has huge benefits for firms. Unlike other directories, such as Chambers or Legal 500, the new iteration of WWL reaches 770,000 motivated and senior potential clients looking for answers to specific issues.
The search functionality serves your lawyers to these people on a plate, if you’ve optimised your lawyer profiles for your target audience, which can be done by legal issue, work area, topic and jurisdiction.
You also have access to WWL Analytics, which claims to allow you to “deep dive into data on your reputation, combining extensive competitor data with client feedback, proprietary research and expert insight.” In short, the Analytics tool allows you to understand how competitors are positioning themselves so you can “pinpoint opportunities as they emerge.”
Potential cons
Firstly, this is a pay-to-play system. If you opt out, you will be penalised by the system, even if your lawyers are highly ranked in WWL or match the specific qualifications potential clients are searching for.
Secondly, the search functionality means that firms will need to think hard about how they position their lawyers on the platform. This can be a time-consuming process that adds pressure to already stretched marketing teams.
Thirdly, it remains to be seen how accurate the search results will be for clients. If only a few law firms engage with the premium product, of course those firms will have an advantage. If too many firms engage with it, then the utility for clients, overloaded with information on competing firms, might be reduced.
Other functionality
In addition to the new search function, WWL and Lexology have also integrated their content on certain titles that should enhance traffic to your firm’s content.
For premium law firm subscribers, Lexology publication Global Competition Review has introduced a system whereby WWL ranked experts are linked to their published articles. WWL will display a module next to the ranked lawyer identifying them as a thought leader and provide a link directly to their profile on Lexology.
Conversely, articles on Lexology will display a widget next to articles written by WWL ranked authors, providing the authors with what Lexology says is “third party validation, confirming your experts as leading practitioners”.
Conclusion
As the legal industry grapples with AI, so too is the ecosystem of journals and directories around it. WWL’s new search functionality might be a game changer in the way law firms reach potential clients, and if they want to engage, it is up to firms themselves to make sure their profiles are optimised for the type of work they want to attract.