Have you been to a law firm office or have sough the services of a lawyer through a law firm? All over, you may notice many law firms advertising their legal services. However, do you really know the essentials about a law firm and its different forms and structures?

In many cases, they are attempting to sell you something that is overpriced and that won't produce you any new clients at all, let alone good clients. The attorneys I have worked with report to me that the whole Internet marketing process confuses them.

When a client speaks to you from the heart, the insight you receive will be priceless. The marketing materials for that Century City law firm had previously emphasized their track record, their versatility and their willingness to be tough. Had they failed to incorporate this client's insight, they would have missed a precious marketing opportunity.

Legal profession is also taken to be one of the services which is included in GATS. With the liberalization and globalization policy followed in India, multinationals and foreign corporations are increasingly entering India. Why should the firm outsource legal work offshore, a practice seen by some as adventuresome and risky, instead of staying the course, doing it "the way we have always done it."

Clearly, this law firm was not well managed, which might serve as an excuse for the managing partner's self-serving perspective on client IP legal services. It is imperative that attorneys understand this marketplace if for no other reason your potential clients and clients are moving to the Internet and yellow page advertising is a dying marketing for law firms vehicle.

Some might contend that complaints about the billable hour model have abounded for many years, but no major changes have occurred to date, thus indicating that most clients may be all bluster and no action. The legal profession as it was practiced years before by the legal stalwarts did have a very high standard. However, today that standard of profession is nowhere to be seen or experienced.

Firms fail to recognize that what a firm is can often be measured by the decisions it makes, and they often make decisions without regard to the effect they might have on clients, even in indirect ways. In many other countries, a rule is imposed that ownership interest or management of a law firm can only be given or done by lawyers. As such, the law firms' capital through "initial public offerings" on the stock market, like most other corporations, cannot be raised immediately.