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"You Had Me At Hello" Or "Let Them Go?": Law Firm Selection, Retention, And Defection In The Investment Banking Industry, Karl D. Shehu

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

Drawing upon the theoretical concepts of reputation and social networking, this article's main objective is to assess how investment banks choose external law firms. Using qualitative methods, I show that investment banks, to varying degrees, rely on internal counsel, procurement specialists, and boards of directors to decide which firm to select. When choosing a specific law firm for the first time, corporate decision-makers are likely to evaluate law firms based on intangible factors like reputation and the word-of-mouth referrals of their colleagues. In subsequent selections of a law firm, these factors are transplanted by past results. Firm expertise and cost …