This article was created in partnership with Mondaq.
What’s the main message when it comes to legal marketing data?
“Clearly there’s a big opportunity here; there’s growing recognition that data is important,” says Richard Anderson, Chief Product Officer at Mondaq, when asked what law firms across all sizes and markets need to hear right now.
“You may think others are doing so much better than you in this area, but don’t be intimidated. If you’re starting today, don’t be worried — lots of people are. But you should start today.”
Mondaq’s Law Firm Data Landscape Report
But that’s easier said than done in today’s climate. In the face of the acceleration of legal marketing technology, the push toward AI, and the increasing demand for measurable business development outcomes, even the most data-savvy of firms are looking for direction.
With the team fielding constant questions from clients — What’s happening with data? What should we do? What are other firms doing? — Mondaq decided to showcase data innovation via an initiative featuring law firms that “are doing it really, really well,” Anderson notes.
From there, it was a natural evolution to a full-fledged report exploring the state of data maturity in the legal marketing and business development space. Mondaq’s inaugural Law Firm Data Landscape Report was recently released and it not only captures the state of law firm data use, it demystifies it.
This aligns with Mondaq’s overall mission to leverage its gold mine of readership data — primarily used to help law firm clients improve content marketing and drive actionable business development — and make it available, easy to access, and easy to consume.
“We speak to so many clients and had a solid response when they asked for information, but we wanted to display it in a quantifiable way,” Anderson explains. “We pivoted the business and that was the genesis of the report: there’s an appetite for this data, let’s show them what the answers are.”
Results call for ‘tactical picking of battles’
The survey targeted professionals in legal marketing and business development. The final respondent pool was broader and more diverse than anticipated; 47% of respondents fell into the C-suite and director-level at large law firms in North America. This provided a robust and representative view.
It included a well-distributed cross-section of roles, with a significant number of senior managers (18%), managers (21%), and assistants (14%); firm sizes, with 21% of respondents coming from firms with over 500 lawyers, 43% from mid-size firms with over 50 lawyers, and 36% hailing from firms with under 50 lawyers; and geographies, led by North America (30%) followed by Asia Pacific (23%), UK & Europe (22%), the Middle East & Africa (20%), and Latin America (4%).
Across the board, one thing was clear: there’s been a sharp rise in the strategic importance of data within law firms, with 83% of respondents calling it a top priority. But what Anderson wants to call out is that the growing focus is accompanied by an imbalance. While budgets are rising for technology, investment in people is lagging significantly.
“Over a quarter of respondents disagreed that there would be any extra investment in people,” he pointed out, highlighting a looming skills gap as existing staff — often already stretched thin — are expected to take on data responsibilities without additional support or training.
The gap is more of a threat for smaller firms, as their larger counterparts are more likely to have data science or technology teams in-house. While the survey findings were generally consistent across firm sizes and regions, Anderson notes one key difference.
Smaller firms were significantly less likely to purchase or switch data vendors in the next 12 months — though once that cohort was removed there was a 30–35% chance of firms looking into new vendors, a promising signal for data providers he adds — underscoring the fact that firms need to be strategic in the tools they invest in.
“It needs to be something that helps you along the data journey,” Anderson explains. “Something that allows you to plug and play effectively, rather than something super techie that may be promising, but there's no capability within the organization to implement it.”
The shortage of skills and capabilities ranks in the top three of six major challenges identified in the survey, others being lack of budget and concerns about data quality. These issues are interconnected, Anderson explained, and once again underscore the need for strategic decision-making. Technology, if used correctly, is a great equalizer.
“Pick the right winners and pick the right battles,” Anderson says, noting that again, the most important thing is to start where you are: a small-scale tool rather than an immediate investment in a high-cost enterprise solution.
“For anyone facing budget concerns, a six-figure CRM might not be in the cards. But what is possible? Bringing in some second party data into something simple, like spreadsheets. Tactical picking of battles is clearly going to be key here.”
Client expectations result in the tail wagging the dog
Anderson points to client expectations as one of the main drivers behind the increasing prioritization of data. There’s been a massive push for all businesses to realize the value of AI, with pressure mounting especially on client-facing firms to become more efficient through automation.
The marketing and business development segments of firms are where those efficiencies can be gained, but Anderson warns that because these changing expectations are forcing the issue and if firms blindly jump into AI, “in some ways it's a bit like a tail wagging the dog.”
“In order to have that AI, you need good data first,” he explains. “People are figuring out that in order to do that, our data needs to be good, consolidated, clean, capable of providing for those models.”
On a mission to support law firms, Anderson invites lawyers to keep an eye on the space. Mondaq will continue its data series webinars and is currently awaiting feedback on the report to see what’s of interest to dig into. And the plan is to make the Law Firm Data Landscape Report annual, allowing it to gain traction, gather more respondents, and provide value from how it trends over time.
While it's very easy to feel everyone is doing more and doing it better than you, that’s not what the survey suggests. While there’s a clear-eyed recognition that challenges do exist, no firm is too late to the table to start building its data strategy.
But that said, the time is now to make a move — whether it’s your next logical step or making that first leap.
“There’s a recognition that data is important; now it’s about making smart, achievable choices,” Anderson sums up. “Start with what you can action today and grow from there.”