Trust, Relevance, and AI: What Corporate Counsel Want from Law Firm Thought Leadership

You are the audience law firms write for, but is their thought leadership giving you what you need? Your answers will directly shape how law firms create more relevant, valuable content to support your work and decision-making. Please add your perspective to the mix:

Question Title

* 1. What is your job role?

Chief Legal Officer or General Counsel

Chief Compliance Officer

In-House Corporate Counsel

Legal Operations

Small Business Owner

C-Suite: CEO, CFO, other role

None of the above

Question Title

* 2. Which of the following best describes the industry of your organization?

Question Title

* 3. What is your company size?

Small (1-500 employees)

Medium (501-5,000 employees)

Large (5,001+ employees)

Fortune 100

Question Title

* 4. What is your country of residence?

United States

United Kingdom

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 5. How often do you engage with legal thought leadership content from law firms (e.g., articles, alerts, podcasts)?

Daily

Weekly

Monthly

Occasionally

Rarely / Never

Question Title

* 6. How much time do you spend seeking and/or consuming thought leadership content weekly across ALL formats (e.g. blog posts, social media, podcasts, videos, publications, etc.)?

0-5 hours per week

5-10 hours per week

10-15 hours per week

More than 15 hours per week

I never seek out or consume thought leadership content

Question Title

* 7. Which scenarios most compel you to consume and engage with law firm thought leadership? (Select up to 3)

The title jumped out at me, was curious to learn more

Ongoing communications from current outside counsel

Alerts and legal analysis around breaking news

Answers to specific legal questions as they come up

Ongoing strategic guidance directly related to my business

Need for industry insights and updates

Vetting of potential counsel/legal providers

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 8. What challenges do you most often encounter when engaging with law firm thought leadership content? (Select all that apply)

Too much content is behind registration walls/paywalls

Too much legal theory, not enough action items/next steps

Content created by generative AI

Too much text, not enough multimedia (e.g., podcasts, videos, etc.)

The key takeaways are buried/too long and unfocused on my specific needs and questions

Legalese, which can't be shared with executives/leadership in other roles

Information overload: too much to read, too little time

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 9. When you find valuable thought leadership content that resonates, what is the behavior that best describes how you found it? Select all that apply.

Receiving outside counsel email newsletter currently subscribed to

Clicking through an advertisement

Listening to podcasts

LinkedIn newsletter or posts in feed

Searching for answers on an AI agent (ChatGPT, Claude, etc.)

Receiving third-party email newsletter currently subscribed to

Attending webinars

Google search

Receiving a link forwarded from a colleague

Reading via legal media (Law360, Bloomberg Law, Law.com, JD Supra, CCBJ, etc.)

Receiving a direct email or message from my outside counsel

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 10. When you engage with legal thought leadership content, whose insights are you typically seeking? (Select all that apply)

I'm not seeking anyone's insights, I'm just looking for answers

Firms I've worked with before

Well-known experts in a specific field

My current outside counsel

New firms I haven't yet worked with

I don't pay attention to authorship when initially seeking out content

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 11. What makes a piece of legal thought leadership content valuable to you? (Choose your top 3)

It offers unique insight or a point of view

It's short and to the point

It includes practical examples that share war stories, personal experience, or case studies that I can learn from

It provides actionable takeaways

It covers a new or emerging issue I wasn't yet tracking

It explains how the issue affects my company/industry

It helps me assess legal risk or compliance

It's backed by data

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 12. In your experience, does law firm thought leadership content help you:
(Select all that apply)

Stay up to date on legal and regulatory changes

Identify firms with expertise in a niche area

Validate or double-check information

Decide whom to reach out to for outside counsel

Develop new strategies or approaches to your work

I rarely engage with law firm thought leadership content

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 13. What frustrates you most in law firm thought leadership content? (Select all that apply)

Feels self-promotional

Too much legalese

Repeats what I've already seen elsewhere

Too long or unfocused

Unclear what I should do with the information

Doesn't answer my question quickly; or if it does answer my question, they're too hard to find

Doesn't apply to my industry

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 14. What builds trust when you read thought leadership content from a law firm or lawyer?
(Choose your top 2)

Clarity of insight and writing

Consistency (I see this author/firm's insights often)

Tone (e.g., approachable, academic)

Depth of knowledge about my sector

Transparency (e.g., citing sources, acknowledging complexity)

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 15. Please rank your perceived trust of content on a scale of 1-5 (5 being least trusted; 1 being most trusted)

National business publications (e.g., WSJ, Forbes, etc.)

N/A

Social media such as X, BlueSky, or Meta

N/A

Vendor / legal service provider content

N/A

LinkedIn newsletters, articles

N/A

Industry association publications or newsletters (e.g., ACC, ILTA, CLOC, LMA, ABA, etc.)

N/A

Law firm self-published content

N/A

Legal industry publications (e.g, Law.com, Bloomberg Law, Law360, JD Supra, CCBJ, etc.)

N/A

Question Title

* 16. Which formats do you prefer when engaging with legal thought leadership content? (Select all that apply)

Podcasts

Infographics or visual explainers

Videos

Webinars or CLEs

In-person presentations or events

Social media posts, carousels, etc.

Longer-form white papers or reports

Client alerts or blog posts

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 17. How likely are you to submit your personal or professional information to access “gated content”? (i.e., access content that requires a form submission or registration page to be completed first)

Always do, it doesn’t bother me

Very likely to if it resonates with me / is high value

Sometimes

Never

Question Title

* 18. If you find a law firm’s thought leadership content especially helpful, what are you most likely to do next? (Select all that apply)

Subscribe to more updates from that author/firm (e.g., LinkedIn, JD Supra, etc.)

Reach out to the firm with a question or follow-up

Add the firm to a shortlist for future matters

Save it for future reference

Forward it to colleagues

Nothing — I just move on

Follow the author or firm (on social media)

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 19. Have you ever hired or added a new law firm to your consideration set because of their thought leadership content?

Yes

Not directly, but their content helped them stand out

Question Title

* 20. Which of the following most helps deepen your trust in a firm’s capabilities? (Select all that apply)

Speaking at relevant events

Case studies or real-world examples

Meaningful, relevant thought leadership

Recommendations from peers

Regular presence in trusted platforms

Awards & Rankings

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 21. How do you feel about law firm thought leadership content generated (in part) by AI?

I’m fine with AI-supported content if it’s clearly disclosed

I have no strong preference

I can tell if it is AI-generated and that’s an immediate “no”

I’m skeptical of AI-generated legal content

I prefer content written entirely by humans

Question Title

* 22. When you use a generative AI tool (e.g., ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini) to answer a legal or business question, what do you typically do with the response?
(Select all that apply)

Take the answer at face value and move on

Forward the AI-generated summary to a colleague

Verify the information through a Google search

Click through to the source materials

Use the answer as a starting point for deeper research

I don’t use AI for legal/business questions

Scan citations/sources provided by the AI

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 23. When finding content on AI agents, how often do you check the source of what you’re reading?

Always

Usually

Sometimes

Rarely

Never used AI to seek out information

Question Title

* 24. Do you trust AI search results?

Absolutely

Increasingly yes

No, I always visit the sources for answers

Never used AI to seek out information

Question Title

* 25. Have you ever visited a law firm website or author profile after seeing their thought leadership content referenced in an AI-generated response?

Yes, multiple times

Yes, once or twice

No, but I would if something caught my interest

No, I’ve never thought to do that

I don’t use AI tools for research

Question Title

* 26. If a generative AI tool like ChatGPT recommended a firm’s legal alert or blog post as part of its answer, would you be more likely to trust the firm’s expertise?

Yes, that would positively influence my perception

Maybe — I’d want to evaluate the source further

No — AI inclusion doesn’t influence my trust

I’m not sure

Question Title

* 27. What matters most when deciding whether to trust a legal article or alert you’ve discovered online or through generative AI? (Select up to 3)

The author’s credentials or biography

Clear structure and easy readability

The law firm’s reputation

Recent publication date

Data or case examples cited

Direct answers to my specific concern

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 28. Are you more likely to engage with content recommended via search engines results (Google, Bing, etc.) or via generative AI response (ChatGPT, etc.)?

Source appeared in AI-generated response

Source appeared high in Google search results

Trust, Relevance, and AI: What Corporate Counsel Want from Law Firm Thought Leadership

Question Title

* 1. What is your job role?

Question Title

* 2. Which of the following best describes the industry of your organization?

Question Title

* 3. What is your company size?

Question Title

* 4. What is your country of residence?

Question Title

* 5. How often do you engage with legal thought leadership content from law firms (e.g., articles, alerts, podcasts)?

Question Title

* 6. How much time do you spend seeking and/or consuming thought leadership content weekly across ALL formats (e.g. blog posts, social media, podcasts, videos, publications, etc.)?

Question Title

* 7. Which scenarios most compel you to consume and engage with law firm thought leadership? (Select up to 3)

Question Title

* 8. What challenges do you most often encounter when engaging with law firm thought leadership content? (Select all that apply)

Question Title

* 9. When you find valuable thought leadership content that resonates, what is the behavior that best describes how you found it? Select all that apply.

Question Title

* 10. When you engage with legal thought leadership content, whose insights are you typically seeking? (Select all that apply)

Question Title

* 11. What makes a piece of legal thought leadership content valuable to you? (Choose your top 3)

Question Title

* 12. In your experience, does law firm thought leadership content help you:(Select all that apply)

Question Title

* 13. What frustrates you most in law firm thought leadership content? (Select all that apply)

Question Title

* 14. What builds trust when you read thought leadership content from a law firm or lawyer?(Choose your top 2)

Question Title

* 15. Please rank your perceived trust of content on a scale of 1-5 (5 being least trusted; 1 being most trusted)

Question Title

* 16. Which formats do you prefer when engaging with legal thought leadership content? (Select all that apply)

Question Title

* 17. How likely are you to submit your personal or professional information to access “gated content”? (i.e., access content that requires a form submission or registration page to be completed first)

Question Title

* 18. If you find a law firm’s thought leadership content especially helpful, what are you most likely to do next? (Select all that apply)

Question Title

* 19. Have you ever hired or added a new law firm to your consideration set because of their thought leadership content?

Question Title

* 20. Which of the following most helps deepen your trust in a firm’s capabilities? (Select all that apply)

Question Title

* 21. How do you feel about law firm thought leadership content generated (in part) by AI?

Question Title

* 22. When you use a generative AI tool (e.g., ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini) to answer a legal or business question, what do you typically do with the response?(Select all that apply)

Question Title

* 23. When finding content on AI agents, how often do you check the source of what you’re reading?

Question Title

* 24. Do you trust AI search results?

Question Title

* 25. Have you ever visited a law firm website or author profile after seeing their thought leadership content referenced in an AI-generated response?

Question Title

* 26. If a generative AI tool like ChatGPT recommended a firm’s legal alert or blog post as part of its answer, would you be more likely to trust the firm’s expertise?

Question Title

* 27. What matters most when deciding whether to trust a legal article or alert you’ve discovered online or through generative AI? (Select up to 3)

Question Title

* 28. Are you more likely to engage with content recommended via search engines results (Google, Bing, etc.) or via generative AI response (ChatGPT, etc.)?

Question Title

* 29. Is there anything you'd like to share with law firm leaders to better influence the thought leadership content that they generate?

* 12. In your experience, does law firm thought leadership content help you:
(Select all that apply)

* 14. What builds trust when you read thought leadership content from a law firm or lawyer?
(Choose your top 2)

* 22. When you use a generative AI tool (e.g., ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini) to answer a legal or business question, what do you typically do with the response?
(Select all that apply)