Get Into the Secret Directory that GCs Use to Find Law Firms
We all know about Chambers, Best Lawyers, Leading Lawyers and other directories sold by commercial publishers. But there's a near-secret online directory that corporations and in-house counsel actually use to find a law firm, and chances are you've never heard of it.
It's the "Find a Law Firm" feature of Serengeti Tracker, a project management and billing software program used by 100,000 individuals at 300 corporations in 180 countries. So far about 20,000 law firms -- including all of the AmLaw 100 and 200 -- are in the client-created database. But if none of your clients are using Serengeti, then you're not in the system and cannot be found by the vast majority of corporations.
For example, a quick search (with no filters) for law firms in Chicago turned up 550 results. Corporate counsel can look up a law firm by name, expertise, location and practice area. The feature is built into the system, which is primarily designed for e-billing, tracking expenses, creating reports, storing documents and measuring the progress of an assignment against budget.
Serengeti also has a separate evaluation form to grade a law firm's performance on a particular matter. It was considered so good that the Association of Corporate Counsel based their members only ACC Value Index on it.
So how do you get into the "Find a Lawyer" listing? Be the first law firm to advise your clients to use the Serengeti system, which will put you into the database. Right now, most corporations are using home-made excel spreadsheets to manage outside legal expenses, and you'll be doing your clients a big favor by advising them to use Serengeti.
