In an increasingly competitive legal market, the age-old question of whether clients hire law firms or individual lawyers has taken on new relevance. Jonathan Selvadoray, former managing partner at CMS Cameron McKenna’s Shanghai office and ex-head of legal tech at Temasek, offers unique insights from both law firm and in-house perspectives.
The Challenge of Differentiation
“Both individual lawyers and law firms at the high end of the market struggle to differentiate,” Selvadoray observes. Law firm websites, newsletters, and marketing materials often appear remarkably similar, making it difficult for clients to distinguish between firms competing in the same tier. This homogeneity has led to an increasing focus on two key differentiators:
- Technology adoption at the firm level
- Soft skills at the individual lawyer level
The Personal Touch Wins
Contrary to common assumption, Selvadoray’s experience suggests that relationships often begin with individual lawyers rather than firms. “My experience has been rather the opposite… You’ve got in-house counsel who finds a good lawyer, it clicks, there’s good chemistry, and then they try to build a case around the law firm.” This personal connection often drives panel appointments and ongoing relationships.
The New Hard Skills
What was once considered “soft skills” has become increasingly crucial for success. Key attributes include:
- Active listening abilities
- Understanding client risk appetite
- Proactive thinking and solution delivery
- Ability to tailor advice to specific client needs
- Effective communication across different in-house personalities
“Nothing is more frustrating for an in-house counsel who has repeated work with the same law firm or partner and has to start from scratch again and explain their risk appetite,” Selvadoray notes.
Technology as a Game-Changer
The advent of AI and legal tech is reshaping the differentiation landscape. However, significant challenges exist:
- High investment costs for new technology
- Traditional partnership structures resistant to retained earnings
- Generational divides in technology adoption
- Need for sustainable investment strategies
“I think prices will go down in the future, but right now, whether it’s AI-related or not, it is very expensive, and for smaller firms to make the investment is not easy,” Selvadoray explains.
The Client Relationship Challenge
One of the biggest obstacles to effective client service is the institutional sharing of client knowledge. Selvadoray identifies two main barriers:
- In-house Concerns
- Reluctance to share detailed information broadly
- Concerns about confidentiality when firms leave panels
- Challenge of maintaining consistency across multiple firm relationships
- Law Firm Politics
- Partners sometimes hoard client relationships
- Resistance to sharing client intelligence internally
- Tension between institutional relationships and individual connections
Building Better Relationships
For law firms looking to strengthen client relationships, Selvadoray recommends:
- Investing time in understanding client risk appetite
- Developing broader team relationships rather than single-point contacts
- Using technology to capture and share client preferences
- Creating systematic onboarding processes
- Fostering open communication channels
The future of legal services will likely belong to lawyers who can combine technical expertise with enhanced soft skills and technological proficiency. “Lawyers increasingly need to upskill or reskill,” Selvadoray notes. “Tech-savvy lawyers who also have all the other credentials in terms of legal background and legal analysis will go a long way in this market.”
The evidence suggests that while clients may initially connect with individual lawyers, sustainable relationships require both personal chemistry and institutional capability. The most successful firms will be those that can support strong individual relationships with robust technological infrastructure and consistent service delivery across their platform.
For individual lawyers, the message is clear: develop your soft skills, embrace technology, and focus on understanding your clients’ businesses deeply. For firms, the challenge lies in creating environments where these individual relationships can flourish while building institutional capabilities that add value beyond any single lawyer’s contributions.