Major law firms with offices in Bristol have outperformed their London ‘magic circle’ counterparts in a survey gauging standards of service delivery.
International legal practice Osborne Clarke, which was founded in Bristol and has around 400 staff at its Temple Quay office, is number two in the national ranking compiled by Nisus Consulting. 
Osborne Clarke also ranks number seven for offering value for money to clients and is number three in the Net Promoter Score, which measures client loyalty.
DWF, which has two offices in Bristol, is at number six in the overall ranking and at number one for offering value for money. DAC Breachcroft, with an office in the city’s Portwall Place, is ranked top in terms of compliance with agreed budgets.
Bristol-headquartered Burges Salmon is number four nationally for value for money while CMS Cameron McKenna, which has an office on Anchor Road, is number eight in the budget compliance stakes.
Only three of the so-called ‘magic circle’ firms feature in this year’s Top 10.
The major new piece of sector research – which comes ahead of the publication next week of the independent law guide Legal 500 – says the standard of UK law firms’ service delivery is “high and rising” – but expense and value for money remain a concern.
Nisus Consulting surveyed more than 2,000 in-house and private practice lawyers in the UK, Europe and beyond for its latest annual market report.
The research, entitled The Unbalanced Scorecard, centres on a unique Performance and Value Index (PVI), which incorporates a range of service metrics.
Number one in the ranking is Addleshaw Goddard, which has its roots in Manchester.
Magic circle firm Slaughter and May is the highest scorer in several service dimensions – progress updates, responsiveness, strategic thinking, technical expertise, problem solving, advice quality and documentation quality.
When it comes to the qualities which clients look for in their legal advisers, the research highlights that responsiveness and availability are seen as being less important than personal chemistry, and the ability to problem solve and think strategically.
Nisus Consulting managing director Tim Nightingale said: “Every firm is striving to make itself stand out from the crowd.
“Our research confirms what we all knew: it is difficult to do that on technical expertise alone – there is almost always someone down the road who can do what’s required as well as you can.
“The standard of service delivery in the legal sector is high and rising, which is unsurprising given the degree of competition in every segment.
“However, there are still question marks and areas for improvement. Clients view law firms as expensive and no firm for which we have data leaves clients believing they got more value from instructing them than they had anticipated at the outset. Quite the opposite. And that remains a challenge for every firm.
“Similarly budget compliance is good in some areas but poor in others and a bone of contention for many.”
The report also highlights disparities between law firms in terms of delivering value and service.
“The best performing firms on service and value are rewarded with loyal clients, an essential ingredient in any professional services business: yet others score disappointingly poorly,” said Tim Nightingale.
“This is a concern, particularly in an increasingly polarised market where firms that have neither an expertise, cost nor service advantage have nowhere left to go.”
He said the latest Nisus Consulting report proved there was no “magic circle hegemony” in terms of service delivery.
“The market for legal services is well known for its aversion to change and it would be easy to cite examples where there continues to be resistance to innovation. In fact, there has been a great deal of change,” he said.
“If we had dared to suggest 15, or even 10 years ago that Addleshaw Booth and Co., a firm founded in Manchester and now in London care of a merger with Theodore Goddard, would come top of our Performance and Value Index survey with Osborne Clarke – a firm from Bristol, in second place – we would have been treated as a laughing stock.
“If we had asked the same audience who they anticipated as coming out on top, there is no doubt the magic circle names would be first and foremost….but this is not the case. There is no magic circle hegemony.
“When it comes to delivering service and value, and building loyalty, you don’t need to be the largest, to be based in the City or to have a global network, you just need a clear and present focus on the client. Your firm needs to be built on clients’ needs.”
