As part of the research process for asialaw Profiles we survey buyers of legal services for their feedback on:

  • Assessment and Rating of law firms and lawyers’ quality of service and work
  • Upcoming market trends

Here is a snapshot of the data for Philippines:

Firm attributes

We ask clients to rate law firms on the following (from 1 poor to 5 excellent)

  • Costs transparency
  • Extensive local/international network
  • Industry sector knowledge
  • Technical ability and innovation
  • Use of technology
  • Value for money
  • Client relationship management
  • Risk management


Best firm by individual attribute

 

Best overall firms by aggregate score

 

General statistics

Highest rated law firm attribute: Overall client relationship management                            

Lowest rated law firm attribute: Use of technology

 

Lawyer attributes

We ask clients to rate lawyers based on the following attributes (from 1 poor to 5 excellent)::

  • Communication
  • Commercial understanding
  • Country knowledge
  • Industry sector knowledge
  • Listening to and implementing feedback
  • Meeting deadlines
  • Responsiveness and accessibility
  • Technical ability

 

Best lawyer based on aggregate score

Aris Gulapa, Gulapa & Quicho (Gulapa Law)

General statistics

Highest rated lawyer attribute: Communication

Lowest rated lawyer attribute: Industry Sector Knowledge

 

Market feedback

Topic that concerns clients most

Regulatory or governmental changes

How law firms can assist clients:

  • They can give us brief information on the changes beforehand so that we can start preparing any necessary action
  • By giving regular early updates on expected changes in the regulatory environment based on reliable information obtained from sources within the relevant agencies
  • Just be updated with the latest development and keep us posted should anything pose any effect on our business
  • Keeping up to date with dynamic regulatory conditions
  • Update on proposed bills that will affect the industry

 

Which practice area do they anticipate to give more work to external legal counsel in the next 12 months

Corporate/M&A

Which practice area do they anticipate to give less work to legal counsel in the next 12 months:

Private Equity

 

How can law firms improve their service to clients?

  • Better cost transparency
  • Consider opening branches in international jurisdictions, particularly within ASEAN.
  • Faster response time
  • I think they need to hire more associates to complement the work of their highly experienced but limited pool of partners
  • More frequent, as needed, face to face customer meetings
  • The firm could consider having less prohibitive rates. This matter begins to be a concern even for multinationals
  • The Legal Provider Internet security level does not match our corporation's. We need to password every documents and it’s very troublesome.  They need to upgrade its Internet security level