In talking to a spectrum of national and international law firms about the challenges they face, it became clear that there was a relative shortage of comparative published information about the pitch management process, in particular, the pitch document creation.
The first in-depth research conducted by Dominic Carman in 2017 set out to address this gap and revealed some staggering statistics among UK top100 law firms.
How did law firms create proposals?
Answers from the likes of Dentons, Allen & Overy, Hogan Lovells and others showed that those involved in the pitching process hold an immense amount of knowledge as to what the sources of success are for proposals that win, yet they often face constraints in bringing these documents to life. This often boiled down to the unceasing lack of technology use, with over half of firms not taking advantage of any dedicated software in the process. Without some level of automation, creating pitches even exceeded a 25 hour turnaround time whist those firms that used dedicated software concentrated closer around the 10-hour mark. With 65% of participants experiencing increasing RFP demand the slower turnaround time was seen to somewhat contribute to the lack of customisation capacity, despite this factor being ranked as the most important aspect of a winning pitch.
What does the future of pitch management look like?
This year we set out to repeat the research to see how firms have progressed over the past 4 years and offer a comparative insight into the state of pitch management. Once again joined by the independent legal journalist and consultant Dominic Carman, we are eagerly waiting for the results from the top law firms.
Based on our recent conversations we predict that despite the wave of digital transformation enforced by the pandemic, pitch creation was not the primary process influenced by the changes. However, all is not lost that is delayed. We expect that having become more conscious of opportunities, firms are more actively monitoring these processes and reviewing their practices so that pitch creation can be among the next processes that enjoy a technological boost to their flow.