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What makes a star lawyer?

What makes a star lawyer? Or more precisely, what attributes does a lawyer need to possess to be considered by his or her clients to be a star? The attributes differ depending on the lawyers’ specialty, but they can also be different depending on the gender of the client identifying the star, according to a new survey by Acritas.

Click here to download What Makes a Star Lawyer?

5,000 exceptional lawyers have been identified by senior legal buyers around the world in Acritas’ ongoing global survey. Perhaps most interesting, the survey identifies a mismatch between what law firms perceive to be star qualities versus the clients’ perception. Survey respondents — most often general counsel — were asked whether they had worked with any standout lawyers in the previous year and then asked to give the reasons why they were considered exceptional. This paper, What Makes a Star Lawyer, explores the reasons given and in doing so creates a portrait of the star qualities possessed by some of the best lawyers in the world.

The competencies of star lawyers

The survey identified four main competencies of star lawyers: being expert, quick, commercial and integrated. Star lawyers reflect many of the reasons why clients favour some law firms, with one key difference; the ability to be commercial is much more at the forefront. As within law firms, the core product of expertise is the most common reason people identify star lawyers — those who are seen as excellent within their field. But it is the ability to be commercial and all that entails which differentiates individual star lawyer qualities from firm qualities.

Read the full report to find out how clients identify their star lawyers – and how it differs from law firms.

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