Martindale-Hubbell is making bold enhancements to its flagship website at martindale.com, signalling a shift from its traditional directory roots. Richard Parnham outlines what the changes will mean for international buyers of legal services who use the service.

Embracing Change

Derek Benton, Martindale-Hubbell's director of international operations, is surprisingly frank about previous incarnations of martindale.com. "Essentially it was an online version of our traditional print directory," he says. "Whilst martindale.com has always been incredibly popular, it didn't offer a sufficiently personalised or interactive experience for users. But that is rapidly changing. The service has changed more in the last six months than in the last six years. As an organisation, we are actively embracing new web 2.0 features. We recognise these features provide real value, and a greatly improved experience, for those performing enquiries against firms and lawyers at martindale.com."

New Users

Mr Benton’s enthusiasm is shared by James Harley, Martindale-Hubbell's international marketing director. After spending many months researching what information and tools buyers of legal services require to make their purchasing decisions, both have been deeply involved in shaping a series of new "killer applications" for martindale.com. "Put simply, everything we are doing is being driven by needs of the high value buyers of legal services," says Mr Harley. "  From independent research we've sponsored over many years, we've developed a clear understanding about how buyers validate, evaluate and compare the lawyers and law firms referred to them. We've taken that feedback onboard, and have re-engineered martindale.com to deliver the tools and content buyers needs to support those decisions."

For him, the results speak for themselves. "Since we began to offer free registration to the new martindale.com we've almost doubled the number of registered users at the site to over 115,000. In a typical week, more than 1,500 new users register at martindale.com - and the profiling information of registrants tells us that about a third of these are international corporate counsel."

Collaborative Working

At the heart of Martindale-Hubbell's new strategic vision is the decision to provide a secure, collaborative environment at martindale.com. This environment allows buyers and sellers of legal services to interact directly with each other, and share insights and knowledge. To this end, the organisation will soon be introducing a series of "community" features to the site. These features are specifically aimed at buyers looking to locate, compare or evaluate law firms, with a view to instructing them.

Law Firm Credentials

True to the spirit of web 2.0, many of these new tools will allow users of martindale.com to create and share their own feedback within the site. Further to this, new analytical tools allow registered users to compare the credentials of up to four separate law firms or lawyers at once, side-by-side. This "first stage" evaluation tool allows would-be buyers to assess potential suitability, based on a number of critical capability-based criteria. These criteria include the firms' size, geographic coverage and key practice areas.

Client Review

In terms of what is available today, Martindale-Hubbell is now promoting its new online "Client Review" service. This service, which follows an extensive 18-month research and pilot programme, allows clients to share anonymous feedback on specific law firms and lawyers they have retained with their peers on the martindale.com website. Not only is this feedback extremely useful to other buyers, but it also highlights key areas of proficiency within the firm - thereby validating what the firm says about itself in its martindale.com listing.
 Securing Client Review feedback is a twin-track process: Whilst a growing number of law firm members are now inviting their own clients to submit feedback to Client Review, Martindale-Hubbell is also actively canvassing the opinions of the buyer community. A 'review as a client' button is now positioned against every lawyer and firm at martindale.com, from which a Client Review survey may be completed. It is anticipated that the results of this canvassing effort will "go live" early in 2009.

Although many law firms are understandably nervous about subjecting themselves to a Client Review, Martindale-Hubbell's James Harley is confident that buyers will embrace this new service. "Time and again, research tells us that buyers place great weight on the opinions of their peers, when making their external counsel selection decisions," he says.  "That's precisely what Client Review allows them to do."  What's more, Mr Harley points out that various safeguards and checks have been put in place to minimise the risk of the Client Review process being unfairly manipulated.

LinkedIn Alliance

Hubbell is the recent alliance forged with LinkedIn. LinkedIn is currently the world's leading professional network, and is notably more focused on high-value professions than many rival social networking websites.
 
The decision to join forces with LinkedIn coincided with an extensive research study carried out by consultants Leader Networks and Martindale-Hubbell. The research showed that almost 50 per cent of lawyers are members of online social networks, and over 40 per cent believe professional networking has the potential to change the business and practice of law over the next five years. However, the same survey - comprising 650 lawyers - found that just ten per cent of respondents felt they could rely on their current network to help them work more efficiently and cost-effectively.
 
The alliance between Martindale-Hubbell and LinkedIn is specifically designed to make online networking between law firms and potential clients more focused and effective. "The alliance with LinkedIn means that clients searching for a law firm can now discover relationships between themselves, the firm they are researching, and the wider business community," says Martindale-Hubbell's Derek Benton. James Harley explains further: "Through the Martindale-Hubbell / LinkedIn alliance, a client looking to instruct a new law firm may discover that they know someone, perhaps outside the legal profession, who already has a connection to the law firm they are considering instructing. The LinkedIn alliance is typical of what Martindale 2.0 is trying to achieve - allowing clients to surface new relationships with law firms, and also provide new sources of referrals for clients to validate their research."

Martindale-Hubbell Connected

Moving beyond Martindale-Hubbell's alliance with LinkedIn, the martindale.com website is about to launched its most comprehensive online networking tool to date. This new environment will be known as Martindale-Hubbell Connected, and is due to launch in early 2009. "Martindale-Hubbell Connected is intended to be a collaborative, global online community of legal professionals," explains Martindale-Hubbell's James Harley. "It's designed to allow both in-house and private practice lawyers to establish and develop their own independent network of contacts, and collaborate in a secure environment."
 
As with the more generic social networking sites, participants on Martindale-Hubbell Connected will be able to create their own individual profiles, connect with their colleagues and share insights, opinions and best practices. Helpfully, users will also be able to access customised legal news and other relevant content - which sets the site apart from more generic online networking communities. Members will also be able to add their own unique content.
Like Martindale-Hubbell's alliance with LinkedIn, members will soon be able to surface relationships and connections between themselves and other members of the Connected Community, as they perform enquiries at martindale.com. In addition, Martindale-Hubbell Connected will proactively suggest new contacts and connections users may wish to make use of, as they validate their research into lawyers and law firms. The site will suggest possible new connections with other practitioners, based around shared professional histories, mutual contacts, and relevant work experience. "The technology that lies behind Martindale-Hubbell Connected means that clients can perform enquiries against lawyers and law firms in a way that's simply not possible using a traditional listings directory," explained Mr Harley.

Summary

Taken together, the new tools such as "side-by-side" comparison, and important new content such as Client Review and the relationship insights provided by the LinkedIn alliance are arguably the most radical developments in the directory's 146 year history. "In recent years Martindale-Hubbell has leveraged technology to channel its content via various formats, migrating from books to CD-Rom and more recently to the internet," says Derek Benton. "But in the recent years we have made a conscious effort to explore what new technologies can enhance the experience and value of the service for high value buyers.
 
"We believe the enhancements we are making to martindale.com are transforming our role supporting clients' external counsel decision-making process. Only by providing the tools and content buyers need to support this process will we attract the quality of audience to martindale.com our clients expect."