As any other profession, Legal service is also facing unhealthy competition. Most of the big law firms are vying each other to grab more number of clients resorting to any kind of ethical and unethical practices. This is more among the GIANTS who deal with MNC clients who have their presence and operation in multiple countries at a time and do have some legal issues or the other especially in the areas of international laws and patent rights etc. So the law firms which are experienced in handling such cases do complete one another highlighting their specialties in services and success rates in that area of legal service. So they are left with no option but to become more and more professional in their dealings. Since legal profession is an also a business now, it requires proper marketing as any other profession does have. Nevertheless, lawyer marketing service is a very sensitive issue and it does consider certain values associated to this profession.
Ethics: – Legal ethics say that law is intended to providing the best legal service to the clients protecting their best interests. But, violating the basics of legal services, if somebody does carry out his/her legal profession using it to protect the clients who are the real culprits in a case is a grave mistake and considered as unethical as far as a lawyer ‘s profession is concerned.
Commercialization: – Following suit of other profession the legal profession is also found to be getting commercialized with every passing day. In the US it is reported that some lawyers and legal firms have now started sharing rewards with the clients unethically.
Marketing legal profession
It is commonly considered that lawyer marketing services is tougher than marketing a product. Service marketing involves some distinctive features as follows;
Customized: – Service can not be standardized. It can only be given as customized service.
Uniform methods:-The process of production, marketing and delivery of services is almost common in nature.
Timing: – The timing between the demand and supply is based on timing in legal service. If a service is not honored in time, the lawyer might lose his/her client.
Intangible: Legal service is intangible unlike a consumer product. It can not be seen or touched. So it is not that easy to assess the quality of legal services in general.
Solicitors must understand that there ate tools with which the clients can value the services rendered by them.
Marketing tools for Legal profession:
While analyzing the client base and its nature, a lawyer has to segment it in various lines such as area of work, geography, and source of business. This will help the lawyers and the law firm to understand the areas of growth and re allocate them as per the requirement. Analyzing the nature of the cases and prioritizing them as per the severity of the same is another marketing strategy the lawyers and the law firms do follow meticulously. All lawyers and law firms regardless of its size should have some attorney advertising plans and strategies on their own to pursue their profession in the most professional manner.