Axiom Achieves Industry-Leading Scores for Talent Quality

Client feedback puts Axiom in the “Excellent” Net Promoter Score class, and reflects Axiom’s exceptional performance across the full legal spectrum, from secondments to legal support and law firm services

NEW YORK, Feb. 20, 2024—Today Axiom announced results from its latest talent quality survey, which reflects detailed feedback from thousands of clients across 31 industries and 14 practice areas. The survey shows that Axiom’s lawyers achieved an industry-leading Net Promoter^® Score (NPS^®) of 68, compared to the legal services average of 37, positioning Axiom’s talent in the high end of the “excellent” category.[1] Axiom has now received more than 9,300 talent quality surveys from active clients, underscoring the company’s commitment to using data-driven best practices from other industries to maximize client satisfaction and talent quality, and ensure our employees can develop and excel in their Axiom careers.

Axiom’s results demonstrate that its lawyers set the standard for industry excellence, whether for short-term secondments or longer-term, complex projects that clients historically try to stretch their internal teams to manage or send to law firms. The most recent data paints a compelling picture: a remarkable 95% of respondents say that Axiom's talent not only meets but often surpasses their expectations. Moreover, an impressive 90% of clients report that Axiom’s lawyers are as talented or even superior to their counterparts at traditional law firms.

In an industry that has not invested heavily in client satisfaction and performance research, Axiom consistently listens and responds to clients through proactive feedback processes. These include but are not limited to regularly surveying clients by email and in person, a rigorous program of personal client engagement by Axiom’s Talent Success Representatives, engaging Client Advisory Boards (CAB) and Legal Advisory Boards (LAB) in the U.S. and Europe, and a survey where Axiom talent evaluates clients’ engagements—all to guide the company’s continuous improvement efforts.

“Our best-in-class client satisfaction scores demonstrate that talent quality is at the absolute core of the Axiom brand,” said Sara Morgan, Chief Talent Officer at Axiom. “It’s in our DNA. In fact, we hire just 3% of applicants who apply to Axiom. Our bench has lawyers and allied legal professionals with a wide range of experience, with proficiency equivalent to what you’d expect from an elite law firm and the deep in-house practical experience our clients need. In fact, we’re so confident in the quality of our talent that we offer a success guarantee. We’ll waive our fee if a client isn’t satisfied after engagement start and onboarding. Axiom is the leader in hiring great talent, quality is our differentiator, and our dedication to client feedback and continuous development of our talent shows we live and breathe talent excellence, and invest in our people and our clients.”

Given talent and budgetary challenges faced by in-house legal teams today, including shrinking budgets, increasing complexity, and law firm rate increases[2] projected between 6-8% in 2024[3], Axiom gives clients a single trusted provider who can deliver flexible in-house legal talent solutions and law firm services for up to 50% less than national law firms. Axiom’s latest client feedback research underscores clients’ exceptional satisfaction with Axiom’s talent—including many in-house counsel and Am Law 100 alumni, and engagement model.

• Axiom’s talent quality is considered exceptional across the key attributes clients value. Survey respondents were asked to rate Axiom’s talent quality on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 meaning “Below expectations”, 3 meaning “Meets Expectations’, and 5 meaning “Exceeds expectations,” across four dimensions. Axiom’s talent earned average ratings of 4.3 for Legal Expertise, 4.3 for Business Judgement, 4.4 for Communications and Collaboration, and 4.5 for Responsiveness.

• Axiom’s talent is among the best clients have ever worked with. Nearly 6 in 10 of survey respondents reported that Axiom talent was in the top 10% of legal talent they have ever worked with.

“Axiom’s talent quality is first rate, as is the attention we get from our Talent Success Representative, who is attentive to our needs for new talent as they arise, and consistently checks in to assess how our engagements are going,” said Amy O’Connell, General Counsel of Roux, a top 30 environmental consulting and management organization based in Islandia, NY. “I actually learn from Axiom lawyers. I can’t be an expert on everything, and I count on our Axiom lawyers to keep us ahead of the curve on specific topics—such as privacy, for example. As Roux has capabilities throughout the United States, Axiom experts can inform us of state-specific legislation that may impact decisions we make or how we service our clients. My experience is that Axiom’s legal talent understand ‘the big picture’ and don’t just provide legal advice like traditional law firms may. They understand how their work is related to getting deals done and advancing the objectives of the business.”

Axiom’s outstanding NPS results come on the heels of the company’s one-year anniversary of the launch of Axiom Advice & Counsel (AA&C), an Arizona-based law firm built to fit today’s in-house budgets, with rates 25% lower than national law firms; partner oversight and accountability; fractional or full-time General Counsel services; and the scalability and affordability of working with Axiom’s network of experienced lawyers.

“Nearly 10,000 client reviews can’t be wrong,” said Catherine Kemnitz, Chief Strategy and Development Officer at Axiom. “We take immense pride in exceeding our clients’ expectations day in and day out, across four continents and every major industry. That’s why companies of all sizes place their trust in us, and increasingly rely on Axiom’s high-quality talent for everything globally. Every day we help more companies ‘bend the legal cost curve’ with our world-class lawyers and broad portfolio of in-house solutions and law firm services.”

About Axiom

Axiom is where high-caliber legal talent meets full-service law firm work. We invented the alternative legal services industry 23 years ago and now serve more than 1,500 legal departments globally, including 60% of the Fortune 100, with 95% client satisfaction. Axiom gives small, mid-market, and enterprise clients a single trusted provider who can deliver a full spectrum of legal solutions and services across more than a dozen practice areas and all major industries at rates up to 50% less than national law firms. To learn how Axiom can help your legal departments do more for less, visit axiomlaw.com.

Net Promoter^® and NPS^® are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., Fred Reichheld and Satmetrix Systems, Inc.

[1] https://www.qualtrics.com/experience-management/customer/net-promoter-score/

[2] https://news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and-practice/top-law-firms-revenue-rose-6-on-higher-rates-wells-fargo-says

[3] https://www.law.com/americanlawyer/2023/10/30/big-laws-approach-to-billing-rate-hikes-in-2024