BRANDING OF LAW FIRMS IN INDIA
Rashmi Mishra
(Querist) 23 April 2010
This query is : Resolved
Interesting piece in the Economic Times (India) about the branding of law firms, their perceptions, and activities. What you see is a fundamental misunderstanding around the role of branding in law firms.
Read the article http://bit.ly/bP9xXN and let us know what you think about some of the comments and quotes in the piece?
CA Adarsh Agrawal
(Expert) 29 April 2010
As regards the legal profession, especially in India, personalities do matter. Clients very often look for the leader in a given practice area and approach the firm he or she is associated with. However, in many cases clients do not look beyond their current law firm probably because of strong relationship between the client's promoters and the law firm's senior/managing partners. Again there are a class of clients who will merely call for expression of interest from law firms and engage a firm that quotes the lowest, without spending time in understanding the reasons for the variance in the quoted fees.
I'd further like to add that no matter how hard one tries to develop/project a brand in the legal industry, ultimately it is the confidence of the client in an individual or a group of individuals and their ability to understand the client's requirement matters most. Considering the changing dynamics in client profile and their approach to legal issues at least for some time to come individuals will continue to be important. In my view, branding of a law firm is a function of the ability of individuals (who make up the law firm) to be leaders in their respective areas of practice and command the client's confidence.
Lastly, I'd disagree with comments in the report that equates branding and advertising....Branding is a long and tiring process and not skin deep like advertising. No advertising can be successful without proper branding.
