Shell General Counsel : Legal directories of little value to in-house counsel

Richard Wiseman, the General Counsel of Shell International Petroleum Company Limited, is horrified by the amount of money that law firms spend on preparing submissions legal directories such as Martindale-Hubbell and Chambers. He can’t imagine who law firms think is naive enough to use such directories anymore than they would use the Yellow Pages in locating outside counsel.

Picked that up in an article in UK publication LegalWeek. After talking with inside counsel, they raised the possibility that legal directories are more a self-perpetuating marketing-arena for law firms, as opposed to a useful tool for corporate clients.

John Wallbillich, a former general counsel in the States who turned me onto the Legal Week article, calls Wiseman’s a common (and thankfully honest) viewpoint.

These directories serve some purpose, but their influence is more like a citation from a Louisiana state court in a legal brief. It’s better than nothing, but in my experience only in limited cases (such as a foreign jurisdiction or a minor matter for local counsel).

Last month John Lipsey, VP of Corporate Counsel Services for LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell, posted on the importance of legal directories to in-counsel in the lawyer selection process. John conceded personal referrals were twice as important to in-house counsl than Martindale, but still argued based on his survey that 40% of in-house counsel found Martindale as important in the hiring process.

I heard from multiple in-house counsel and lawyers in large law firms, that they didn’t believe Lipsey’s findings. They thought the survey was self serving and done to argue that Martindale remains relevant in the age of the Interet where referrals are an email or two away and so much information is freely available. Information too that’s beyond the scope of a lawyer bio or firm profile. Information that provides a 360 degree view of a lawyer.

Ultimately law firms are going to make the call with their pocketbook. With large law firms leaving directories like Martindale-Hubbell or reducing their listings, law firms may already be making the call that legal directories are of declining value.