Time and again, the message that comes back is that buyers lean into thought leadership most when they are facing organisational challenges, internal and external change, and new opportunities. Challenge, change, new.

Our legal buyers were quite clear in their preference, and it was for long-form material. This is largely consistent with our wider research across professional services. A shorter report or white paper (20-30 pages appears to be the sweet spot) often comes top of the charts, as it did here. Articles, both long and short, are not far behind, but video, podcasts and webinars were decidedly out of sorts in our legal buyers’ survey.

Legal buyers do not seem to be too interested in consuming thought leadership from law firms. In fact, they appear to strongly prefer thought leadership from other types of professional services firms, especially consulting firms.