Kirkpatrick & Lockhart has taken an interesting step to reach out to clients and prospects. Alerted by a “centerfold” advertisement in the current issue of Corporate Legal Times, I saw that KL commissioned an independent survey of corporate counsel. The firm positions the survey as the beginning of a dialog with in-house lawyers. The survey is available from the KL Home Page.

On the technology front, the survey asked about how law firms use technology to service clients. The specific question was “What outstanding use of technology helped you?” The survey found that 53% of Fortune 500 law departments answered “none.” The numbers trail off from there, with 16% answering e-mail, 11% document exchange/secure networks, 4% electronic file documentation, and 2% internet research. Zero percent selected Extranets – a surprising result in my opinion.

There have been two other recent corporate counsel surveys, both focused on technology. One by Corporate Legal Times (see my May 28th posting) and another by Corporate Counsel magazine called The High Cost of Staying Low Tech. Both found the level and sophistication of in-house technology lacking.

Taking the three surveys together, it appears there is a big opportunity to do more with technology for in-house counsel, both internally and with outside counsel.