The legal market is ever-changing, and all those innovations can be tricky to navigate. There’s so much information out there, but knowing what to read, listen to, and watch in order to get an accurate snapshot of the latest legal services trends can be difficult.
Even thinking about legal trend analysis and market research can be exhausting.
Is it really worth all of our time and effort to figure out what these legal marketing trends are?
Well, it’s a big yes!
These insights from all over the industries that we serve and for the business of law can be incredibly useful when it comes to planning and strategizing almost every aspect of running a law firm, from the legal services that you offer to how you offer them, what the competitive landscape looks like, and how to stay on top of everything that you do.
Resources for Legal Trend Analysis and Market Research [Free & Paid Tools]
1. Clio Legal Trends Report
This is our personal fave! Clio provides a free annual report that is extremely valuable to all law firms. You don’t even need to invest a lot of money or conduct your own market research. They have insights that apply across the board in the legal industry, and they’re ideally positioned to be able to do so because they have access to various types of data that other organizations don’t. Clio’s Legal Trends Reports can be found in their resources section, and they are also happy to share it with the legal sector.
2. ALM Intelligence
ALM Intelligence, a division of ALM media properties, provides reports in a variety of fields, including legal, financial, and a few others, but their legal reports are robust, well-researched, and fascinating. They put the material together in a way that would be impossible for you to do on your own because they conduct various surveys and have access to a variety of law firms that provide services. They also provide analysis, which is maybe the most valuable aspect of what they offer. The only thing that might make this resource a little more difficult than others is that the data they generate in the reports is kept behind a firewall and has a commercial investment. These commercial investments may be worthwhile for your firm, particularly if you are a corporate law firm that provides business legal services to corporations.
3. AIPLA
If you’re a member of a professional organization in the intellectual property space, such as AIPLA (the American Intellectual Property Law Association), remember that they conduct market research and provide market insights, so you can use that information to conduct your own trend analysis and understand things.
4. Answer The Public Dot Com
This tool is fun and can also assist you with business development and social media. It’s www.answerthepublic.com, which is a website where you can type in keywords related to your sector and it will tell you everything you need to know about what people are looking for on Google. If you’re trying to conduct your own research and don’t know where to begin, this could be a good place to start when it comes to determining what’s trending with the legal services you provide, a specific sector of your economy or your area, or what people are looking for, who needs your services, and so on.
Identify the keywords you might use for social media, which you can also use to generate content around and plan the conferences or publications relating to the legal services you’re delivering. You can also see what kinds of questions others are asking, and they will provide you with a wealth of information on that specific topic. This tool is a go-to resource for your law firm or practice.
5. The Central American Data Hub
Unsurprisingly, there are also research companies you can contact that compile a wealth of information for legal firms that can be beneficial. You may find information in a variety of formats and languages and apply that in almost every area. If you’re seeking resources, the Central American Data Hub contains information on all economic topics, as well as information on legal services that can be incredibly useful for your law firm.
6. Statista
This is extremely exciting and beneficial, but it comes with a price. Statista is worthwhile, and if you haven’t heard of it, you should have a look. Statista can give information on almost everything, and if they don’t have it and you want them to hunt for it because you trust them, they will do the research. This research company has an easy-to-use interface, and the material they provide is interesting and useful that it’s worth highlighting.
Legal Trend Analysis Seems Daunting? Firm Forward has got you Covered
Hopefully, these resources will assist you in locating information and gaining a better understanding of what it takes to conduct market research and then apply that knowledge to legal trend analysis. When it comes to running a law firm and making decisions about where to invest money and what you’re going to do to improve the legal services that you provide to your clients, being able to one have the data, understand it, and create some analysis around it that matters for your firm and where your firm is going is all very important.
If you need help doing any of that – Firm Forward is always happy to help. We love this kind of work and if it seems daunting to you or you just want to ask us a question then please feel free to contact us!