A few days ago, I offered my initial recap of the general counsel panel that we were treated to at this year's Legal Marketing Association Annual Conference, focusing on some key quotes from the session. Now, let's get into the meat of the panel, where even more value is to be found.

The one overriding thought I had (and I was not alone if you listened to the tweet stream) was that year after year, we're hearing the same comments and advice from general counsel. What does that mean? It means that law firms STILL aren't listening to what their clients really want.

In the past, this has been manageable, because the economy was thriving and there was plenty of work to be going around. But now, as Jeff Carr of FMC Technologies warns:

There will be new business models that come into place. We'll build them if you won't. We don't need YOU to survive. We need the [legal] industry to survive."