Purchasers of legal services do use directories of international law firms and lawyers. Studies consistently show that directories are among the key elements that inform legal services buyers’ decisions about international law firms, along with in-house counsel referrals and recommendations from existing international law firm providers.
Directories are also used for knowing more about opposing counsel, or for lateral recruits evaluating an international law firm’s capabilities and position. The right investment in the right directories can help to raise your firm’s profile and provide clients and referral sources with reliable information that can help you win business.
However, deciding which directories are “right” for your international law firm is complicated and confusing. The number of international law firm directories around the world has mushroomed along with law firm expansion, the globalization of legal services, and perhaps the publishers' discovery that new ways of appealing to lawyers’ egos brings new revenues.
Leigh Dance of ELD International says that international law firms often ask her to recommend directories. It was in making directory recommendations for international law firms that she learned the enormity of the undertaking for marketing staff to gather the data, prepare the content, get approvals and complete submissions in time to meet the various directory deadlines. As a result, since 2003, ELD International has compiled and published the highly-regarded Global and North American editions of the ELD Guides to Law Firm and Lawyer Directories.
More information is available at www.eldinternational.com
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