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<b><i> Law Firm CI:</i></b> Inspiring Change

By Marci Borgal Shunk
September 01, 2016

“Only half of companies actually use the competitive intelligence [CI] they collect,” headlined a Harvard Business Review article by CI gurus Benjamin Gilad and Leonard M. Fuld, published earlier this year. According to the authors, four primary factors accounted for at least some of the reasons why certain companies are more successful than others:

  1. The Analyst has “sign-off” authority over major decisions;
  2. Management is open to perspectives varying from internal consensus;
  3. The Analyst's report called for proactive, rather than reactive action; and
  4. The Analyst is involved in product launches.

Though the study drew on responses from more than 20 industries, the findings corroborate with more than a decade of my experience delivering CI to law firms. In short, not enough law firms are using CI to improve their decision-making, and perhaps these findings help to explain why.

Where Law Firm CI Falls Short

First, it is nearly impossible to find a CI analyst who takes part in executive decisions at a law firm, whether as a “sign-off” authority or influencer in practice management (the equivalent of a traditional company's product development function). Historically, the competitive intelligence function within a law firm was an adjunct or “special ops” team designated, often on an ad-hoc basis, to work on special projects. Many CI teams grew out of (or are still housed within) the library. They often take direction from parties ranging from firm leadership to business development professionals to individual attorneys.

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