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Martindale – Hubbell’s value to law firms in steep decline

December 20, 2007

Martindale-HubbellTen years ago, a rite of passage. Five years ago, a tradition. Past two or so years, of questionable value. That’s how law firms view Martindale-Hubbell per Gina Passarella of ALM’s Legal Intelligencer.

Highlights from the Passarella article include:

  • An informal survey of Philadelphia firms by Delaware Valley Law Firm Marketing Group founder Stacy West Clark found more firms than not saying they were either eliminating or scaling back their use of Martindale-Hubbell’s listing services.
  • Although firms realize general counsel may be using Martindale-Hubbell to find outside counsel, cost-benefit analyses just aren’t convincing marketers at some of the area’s largest firms.
  • Firms view the cost of Martindale-Hubbell listings as very high compared to the value received.
  • Firms are re-investing marketing dollars previously pegged for Martindale for other interactive marketing efforts.
  • In-house counsel turn to Martindale-Hubbell generally after they have the name of a lawyer or firm from elsewhere.

Per Barry Solomon, LexisNexis vice president of client development, LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell has been rolling out new products so as to become “indispensable” to corporate counsel who are looking to choose outside counsel. ‘That, in turn, could cause law firms to realize the necessity of providing information to the service.’

The problem for Martindale-Hubbell is that they move slow – on new services of value and in adopting pricing models that make sense to law firms. Solomon even concedes Martindale’s transition period is a long-term process that is a work in progress.

On the other hand, innovative marketing solution providers can be swift and nimble. They don’t have an age old publishing model, and its revenue models to protect. New marketing solutions developed by innovative entrepreneurs can offer immediate value to law firms at a fraction of the price. By the time Martindale-Hubbell catches up, leading law firms may have moved on.

Take Fox Rothschild, a 400 lawyer law firm with 14 offices coast to coast, for example. Their Chief Marketing Officer Jim Staples told Passarella that Fox Rothschild is “firmly undecided” when it comes to how it will use Martindale-Hubbell. Though Marindale-Hubbell has been very cooperative in listening to the firm’s needs and offered different options, Staples knows Fox Rothschild won’t continue with Martindale-Hubbell as it has in the past by paying six figures annually.

Staples went to explain that on the table with other options is doing away with the Martindale-Hubbell service or to minimizing its current use. “The cost coupled with Google and firm Web sites has caused firms to rethink their commitment to the [Martindale-Hubbell] service.”

The article does cite some in-house counsel who value Martindale-Hubbell. And frankly, there’s no question Martindale offers value.

The question law firms appear to be asking is what is the ROI for such a large investment each year. Other interactive marketing vehicles costing a fraction of Martindale and of long lasting value are looked at by many firms as possibly offering a far higher ROI than Martindale.

As way of full disclosure, Fox Rothschild is a LexBlog client. It’s nine blogs include:

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