Law firms that adopt and see value in advisory boards gain something difficult to get through other means: a clear view of what clients think about the firm, hot topics and the future of legal services.

Law firms spend an extraordinary amount of time discussing what clients want without ever asking them. Strategic discussions and decisions regarding service delivery, billing, political positioning and social media practices are based on assumptions. But in a competitive, client-driven legal market, firms must build on a foundation that’s more reliable than assumptions.

Technical excellence alone is no longer enough for corporate clients. They want responsiveness and a real understanding of how their industry operates. A structured client feedback program is now essential, not optional, and firms that have built one have a competitive advantage.

Client advisory boards provide a formal, recurring way to gather that feedback. When organized and run well, law firms get beyond nominal input and into a real-time picture of client issues. They also offer a forum to test ideas, refine service delivery and strengthen key relationships in a substantive way.

Law firms that adopt and see value in advisory boards gain something difficult to get through other means: a clear view of what clients think about the firm, hot topics and the future of legal services.

What Is a Client Advisory Board?

With this approach, a small group of senior and high-revenue clients convenes four to six times a year with firm leadership to offer candid comments and guidance. It typically includes eight to 15 in-house counsel or senior-level business leaders selected from key client organizations. Meetings should be led by an outside facilitator who creates an environment for clients to speak freely without concern about affecting their working relationships. Firms that see advisory boards as business development exercises lose the honesty and respect that are the at the heart of their effectiveness.

Why Client Advisory Boards?

Advisory boards have earned a stronger business case than ever before. Corporate legal departments are pressured to deliver more value with fewer internal resources and smaller budgets. They want outside counsel who will function as true partners and are embedded in the business rather than called in to complete assignments. Firms with advisory boards communicate to clients that they’re committed to listening.

Senior partners’ relationships with clients have limits. A client concerned about staffing, billing or communication is unlikely to raise these issues with the relationship partner. However, an advisory board offers a structured setting where they can speak freely about what is working, what is falling short and where changes need to be made.

Inviting a client to serve on an advisory board conveys respect. It enhances the relationship and provides a forum for discussing concerns early, before they become larger issues.

A well-run advisory board also strengthens competitive position and provides potential insights through clients to offerings and business practices of other firms. It gives a firm a deeper understanding of client needs and provides a specific story to use in pitches, RFP responses and market-facing communications.

A Practice Few Firms Have Formalized

Client advisory boards remain far more common in technology and financial services than in law. Among traditional law firms, formal programs are rare, and firms that have built them tend to keep them quiet, treating client listening as an internal operational matter rather than a market-facing mark of commitment. In a profession where competitive differentiation is difficult to achieve, a well-run advisory board is one of the few formal moves that visibly sets a firm apart and demonstrates that it takes client dialogue seriously enough to institutionalize it.

Axiom Law is the clearest current example among legal services companies. The firm announced in a press release in December 2025 that it had expanded its North American Client Advisory Board, growing from eight to 15 members by adding senior in-house legal leaders. Axiom runs a separate European board alongside it, a structure that acknowledges geography shapes client priorities. The two-board design reflects the kind of institutional commitment that has yet to become standard practice in Big Law.

Key Topics for Advisory Board Consideration

Well-structured advisory boards provide law firms with a way to pressure test a range of strategic questions. Service delivery and client experience are two of the frequently identified areas these boards address. Firms can gain insight on how clients define strong service, including communication preferences, responsiveness expectations, staffing approaches and possible other valued intangibles.

Pricing and billing transparency rank among the highest-stakes topics in any client relationship. Advisory boards open a forum to discuss billing structures, budget visibility, and the pros and cons of hourly rates versus value-based approaches.

Technology and innovation have become increasingly hot topics of discussion as firms invest in artificial intelligence and AI-related tools. Advisory boards can address data-sharing preferences and client comfort with new technologies, helping firms align investment decisions with what clients will be willing to adopt.

Thought leadership and other types of content can also be a well-received discussion point. Many firms produce a high volume of published material, but not all of it reaches the right audience, and much of it produced in formats clients do not find useful or easy to digest. A board discussion can source topics that are under-discussed or formats that will achieve higher read/watch results.

Industry trends and competitive positioning should also be on the table, as well as staffing and potential lateral needs. Clients carry early intelligence about regulatory shifts, emerging risks and evolving market conditions, and those conversations help firms understand what drives outside counsel hiring decisions.

What Makes a Client Advisory Board Successful

The structure and composition of the board are as important as the conversation and results it generates.

Choose clients who are engaged, perceptive and willing to provide substantive input. The invitation to join should be personalized and come from the firm’s leader with specific information on time commitment, procedures and expectations. The group should represent a mix of the firm’s practice areas and industries represented, as well as feature a variety of company sizes. Larger clients bring valuable breadth, but smaller and growth-stage companies often contribute equally, particularly on innovation and evolving trends.

An outside moderator is worth the investment. When firm partners run the meetings themselves, clients tend to hold back. A neutral facilitator removes that pressure and consistently produces more candid, actionable feedback, which is why the agenda should stay focused on questions with real strategic stakes—client experience, firm direction and service delivery—because those conversations generate substantive results.

Senior leadership participation matters. Not only do the managing partner and practice group leaders have the authority to act on what is communicated during these sessions, but their engagement signals to clients that the firm takes their feedback and relationships seriously.

Term limits and rotating membership keep the board from becoming stagnant. Best-practice programs run on two- to three-year terms with staggered renewals so the board retains enough institutional consistency to be useful while absorbing fresh perspectives.

Clients and internal stakeholders both need to hear what the firm learned and what will change as a result of their input. When feedback is ignored and there is no visible response, the program loses credibility quickly.

Turning Insight Into Action

Acting on what the board surfaces is what separates a useful program from a performative one. Law firms need to translate feedback into recognized adjustments in pricing, staffing, communication and service delivery. Firm leadership should incorporate those insights into strategic planning, business development and new-matter conversations, including matter intake, pitches and RFP responses.

Client feedback will occasionally challenge assumptions a firm has held for years. Working through those challenges often produces the clearest improvements. It is also worth treating the communications strategy around a board launch as seriously as the program design itself. How the firm announces its advisory board, introduces its members and shares what it has learned will shape how clients perceive the firm’s commitment.

Advisory boards are especially useful during turbulent periods. When firms are navigating high-profile matters or fast-moving external events, real-time board feedback helps leadership gauge client sentiment, develop an appropriately tailored approach and respond with more confidence.

When a Formal Board Is Not the Right Fit

Some firms are better served by a less formal approach. What counts is not following a specific structure but rather ensuring that firm leadership maintains ongoing, open and substantive conversations with its highest-value clients. Firms should identify five to 10 valued clients who will pick up the phone when the managing partner calls. Those relationships, cultivated consistently between matters, provide candid insights during crises, leadership transitions and other sensitive moments.

Listening as a Competitive Advantage

Law firms that seek out client feedback and react to it are positioned to anticipate needs, improve service and build lasting partnerships. In an ever-competitive market where differentiation is hard to achieve, the ability to listen and act upon valuable insights puts a firm well ahead of peers.

Beth Huffman, a managing director at Poston Communications, has more than 40 years of experience in communications, media and marketing. She has spent the last two decades helping major law firms, legal organizations and their global clients create strategic narratives that elevate their reputations and work.

Dave Poston is the CEO and general counsel of Poston Communications. A licensed attorney, he has worked as a legal business development, marketing and communications professional for the last 30 years.

Reprinted with permission from the June 2, 2026 edition of The Legal Intelligencer © 2025 ALM Media Properties, LLC. All rights reserved. Further duplication without permission is prohibited, contact 877-257-3382 or reprints@alm.com.