COMPILING A COMPANY PROFILE

AN INTRODUCTION TO COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE

IN THE LAW FIRM ENVIRONMENT – PART 2

Presented by Jennifer Alexander & Margaret Hennessey

A PLI-LLAGNY Research Briefing

GOAL OF CI IN LAW FIRMS

Assisting Attorneys in identifying new business

opportunities

Explaining the importance of knowing not only the

legal needs but the business and industry needs of

clients

Not providing a data dump

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ACCURACY AND RELEVANCY IS CRUCIAL

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CI needs are often immediate

Important decision or key client meeting

Results of the research and analysis must be “actionable”

Delivered in timely manner

Important to customize and target deliverables

Format and “correctness” is key in law firms

Attorneys are sticklers for correct grammar, clear writing, succinct analysis and conclusions

Security issues

CREATING A COMPANY PROFILE

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It’s 4 PM on Wednesday afternoon a practice group leader calls you with the following request…

THE REQUEST

I’m going to lunch

tomorrow with

Joe Carpenter, the

General Counsel

at MCQ Corp. and

I need to get as

much information

as you can gather

on this company.

Prepare a

company profile

for me. I also need

info on their

industry since I’m

not familiar with

it.

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THOUGHT PROCESS

What are the company’s legal

issues?

Realistically

what can I put

together in the

time given.

What industry is this company in?

What cross selling opportunities are

there?

Can the attorney provide any

background info on the company?

What is the focus of this profile?

Breath

Is the company

private or public?

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COMPONENTS OF COMPANY PROFILE

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Sections

Executive Summary

Company Overview

Strategic Focus/Key Initiatives

Financial Snapshot

Market / Industry Landscape

Legal Overview

Transactions

News and Developments

Biographical Profiles

Internal Intelligence

Conclusions / Recommendations

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Place key takeaways from the report in a

broader context

Contain enough information for a reader to get

familiar with what is discussed in the full report

without having to read it

Highlight the requestor’s focus

Provide a conclusion and/or point of view

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Consider a summary email

Identify opportunities for the firm, highlight

practice area strengths

Answer all questions posed front and center

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COMPANY OVERVIEW

Provides an overview of the company’s value proposition

Includes key data on the company

• Brief description of what the company actually does

• Concise history

• Public or private; Ownership items (family-owned; majority owner)

• Where is it located (headquarters; number / location of other offices)

• Number of employees

• Any significant news item or interesting fact that should be brought to the front

Key products and services and organizational makeup

Sources:

SEC Filings (AR, 10K, S-1); Various online databases; Company

website, especially press releases and Investor Relations pages 10

STRATEGIC FOCUS/KEY INITIATIVES

Spotlights the company’s strategic initiatives and direction

What to look out for?

If company is expanding its footprint globally

Discussion on product line/service changes

If revenue is on the upswing, what is the company planning to do down the line

Layoffs or budget cuts looming

Sources:

SEC Filings (AR, 10K, S-1); Analysts’ reports; Blogs; Company website, especially Investor Relations pages that will likely contain informative presentations to shareholders/analysts – particularly the transcripts from earnings call

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FINANCIAL SNAPSHOT

Shows where the company stands from financial view

Highlight top and bottom line results for public companies

Guidance and outlook from management

Market’s response and analysis

Industry specific financial data and key statistics

Breakdown by product line/geography, client type, assets

Private company data is harder to come by – use all resources along with internal intelligence

Sources:

Latest SEC quarterly and annual filings; Analysts’ reports; Industry research; Blogs; Company website, especially Investor Relations pages that will likely contain informative presentations to shareholders/analysts

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INDUSTRY TRENDS

Summarizes key industry trends and future outlook that are relevant for the company that is being profiled

Sources:

S&P Industry Reports; Mergent Online Industry Surveys; First Research; SEC Filings (AR, 10K, etc.) will discuss industry trends, competitors, risks to business, which is usually related to overall industry trends; News; Research firms and consultants; Analysts’ reports; First Research provides a general overview

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LEGAL LANDSCAPE

Aim is to highlight trends and possible future

actions in this area

Discusses company’s legal matters (litigation

history)

• Areas, legal counsel, courts, significant proceedings and

settlements

Sources:

Monitor Suite, Lexis atVantage, Law360, court

documents, news

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TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS

Provides analysis of company’s deal making and aptitude for more

Highlight M&A, public offerings, private placements and rumored deals

• Type of deal, players, region, financial data, other players (if applicable) and name(s) of legal counsel(s)

Sources:

Capital IQ; Mergermarket; The Deal Pipeline; Dealogic; Pitchbook; Knowledge Mosaic; SDC, Bloomberg; Recent news for deals and/or rumors

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NEWS AND DEVELOPMENTS

Opportunity to show company’s moves with

implications

Also acts as a timeline to show growth/retrenchment

Summary of recent key company news and

developments

Sources:

Lexis; Google Finance/News; Yahoo! Finance;

Bloomberg; News transcripts; Company press releases 16

Topics

Product development efforts and new product launches

Expansion efforts / retrenchment

Key management changes

New partnerships, affiliations, ventures

Losses

BIOGRAPHICAL PROFILES

Provide overview of key decision-makers in an

organization

Additional “personal” information that is usually not

included in official bios, such as hobbies, family

information, sports/recreation, and other interests

Sources:

Company website; SEC filings; Internet search

including LinkedIn, Pipl, Zoominfo, and

Facebook; Leadership Directories; Conference

web sites; Alumni sites; Martindale.com;

Westlaw Directories; Directory of Corporate

Counsel; Internal sources 17

INTERNAL INTELLIGENCE

Relevant law firm’s matters

Current Contacts at Target Firm

Sources:

Internal databases (InterAction/Elite) and staff

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CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Highlight the implications for the law firm

Highlight cross selling opportunities

Highlight problems for industry on the horizon

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SAMPLE OF RESOURCES ON CI

Associations

SCIP, SLA CI, Association for Strategic Planning

Online Resources

Financial Management Training Center (free courses on CI,

Balanced Scorecard and Strategic Planning)

Law Firm CI

Blogs (3 Geeks and a Law Blog; LawFirmCI.Blogspot; Law

Shucks)

Research Firms (ALM Legal Intelligence)

LLRX.com (provides selective CI resource guide)

CI Certification

SLA’s Click University; Fuld-Gilad-Herring Academy of

Competitive Intelligence

SCIP provides listing of education programs20

KEY PRIMARY RESOURCES

Law firm’s personnel/internal databases

Legal market research and consulting firms

Citibank benchmarking survey

Internal data collected during client surveys

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KEY SECONDARY RESOURCES

Legal Marketplace

MonitorSuite, atVantage, Law360, Chambers,

Martindale, Capital IQ, Mergermarket, PACER,

Westlaw databases, Blogs, Law.com

News

Lexis, Google News, Bloomberg, Westlaw

Financial Data/Transactions

Capital IQ, Thomson ONE, Mergermarket, Pitchbook,

Dialog, SDC

Industry-specific

Research firms

Analysts’ reports22

PUBLICLY AVAILABLE RESOURCES

Remote access to public library databases

Free research from consulting and market research firms

However, there are challenges using free research Uncertain and/or curtailed access

Embargoed distribution

Limited options

Technical difficulties

Lack of support and training23

DELIVERABLES

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Besides putting

together company

profiles, how would you

suggest that I deliver

other CI ?

DELIVERABLES

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BASIC DELIVERABLES

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Deliverables Timing Strengths Weaknesses

Company/

Industry

Reports

As requested/

Periodic

Extensive, in-depth

coverage

Time-consuming to

create and digest

Biographical

Profiles

As requested Shows connections in

management structure;

Supports confidence

Essential to write

on correct person;

Up-to-date

Newsletters Periodic Regular contact with

users; Provides scan of

competitive landscape

Difficult to refresh

Alerts Newsworthy Quick response Potential for

simplistic analysis

Oral

Presentations

As requested Can quickly address

questions/issues

Older intelligence

Screens Periodic Business development

tool

Time lag

Raw Data As requested Verification Needs analysis

BASIC DELIVERABLES

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Request Deliverable Timing

Company reports A write up in

Microsoft Word.

Approximately 4 hours to

conduct research and write

up.

Newsletters Summary of articles

in a Microsoft Word

Document with links

or a .pdf file with

bookmarks.

Approximately 2 hours. Scan

news articles daily.

Alerts Email from

Westlaw/Lexis

Daily. You will select

delivery options.

Presentations Slides with text and

graphics in .ppt.

Depends on the size of the

presentation.

Industry analysis A write up in

Microsoft Word.

Depends on what is being

presented. Approximately 3

hours to conduct research

and write up.

Statistics/List Compiled data in

excel.

Depends on what is being

compiled. Anywhere between

2 - 10 hours.

CONCLUSION

Deliverables must be customized and targeted to

specific needs and preferences of requestor

Wrong format undermines intelligence

Lots of resources to choose from

Resources should reflect firms’ requirements and

projected outlook

Need to have staff with requisite skills

Research, knowledge of online databases, analysis,

writing

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