Writing this newsletter has given me the excuse to pursue, with almost-guilty pleasure, searches for information that I might not otherwise have thought to try in the ALM Research Online database. It’s like role-playing, where I put myself in someone else’s shoes and try to imagine their approach to getting the best intelligence available.

If I were (for instance) on the executive committee of a firm looking to move into (for instance) the London market, I’m sure we would want to consider several scenarios – setting up our own office, acquiring an existing boutique, partnering with a firm already in the market, or even merging with a compatible firm. With those suppositions in place, I experimented with a variety of searches – looking at the NLJ 250 spreadsheet information about branch offices, perusing the newly-released Global 100 spreadsheet to get a sense of the size and profitability of U.K.-based firms and the NLJ 250 and AmLaw 200 firms that already have offices there. I also checked the Laterals Report to see whose partners had been moving in and out of London in the last few years.

In another search, I imagined that I was (for instance), in the marketing department of a firm whose partners were interested in comparing their own metrics with a firm with which they were contemplating a merger. Of course, the first thing I would do is pull that firm’s Law Firm Report, the 5-year report, so that we would have in one place the firm’s key contacts in management and the most prominent practice areas, as well as all the firm’s results and rankings in the annual surveys conducted by ALM’s national magazines and newspapers. The report would also provide me with press release headlines about newly-opened offices, and newly-acquired lateral partners and associates and their practice areas.

But how about you? In your real-life roles, what types of searches have proved the most valuable? And which have you not managed to accomplish yet? Do you have questions or suggestions about how to do a custom search? Let us know by emailing almresearch@alm.com, or by calling 888-770-5647.

Until the next issue,

Margaret Daisley, Editor
ALM Research NewsLine
mdaisley@msn.com
917-847-7445