"Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted, the trouble is I don't know which half" is a quote from John Wanamaker, a US merchant and department store pioneer And now (some 100 years later!) O Shaped 's recent Legal Buyers Report gives a decent indication of which half is which - noting the echo on page 21 the 45% of law firm M&BD efforts that have no or negative impact The 50-55% that works: - p32 - showing curiousity and interest in the client's business, beyond the l

The Briefing Legal  / HSBC  2025/26 Law Firm Investment and Strategy Survey paints a picture of overall confidence, with a touch more uncertainty than last year's responses 54% of the 90 surveyed firms are pursuing a strategy of UK only growth and further 45% of international growth (p7), with the US and Middle East preferred destinations in the latter But it's p11 that stands out 82% of firms are looking to achieve that growth through lateral hires in existing geographies an

Ropes & Gray LLP  have captured headlines in recent weeks for permitting AI experimentation to contribute towards 20% of first year billable hours targets We've seen tentative, small steps in this direction over the past 5 or so years, but they've tended to be low single digits of total hours targets, and possibly diluted with other non-billable activities such as BD R&G's 20% equates to 380 hours, out of a 1,900 annual target and is a significant step change. The targeting o