Jane has been involved with the Managing Partners’ Forum* for over 16 years, finding it a useful benchmark for business related to partnerships and in particular the legal sector.
The Forum knows the power of surveys and regularly conducts or highlights great survey work being completed in the legal sector. July’s meeting highlighted a survey from Hewitt & Matthews and Quba as well as looking at the current political and economic outlook.
Current Political Effects
The discussions opened to look at the impact of Andy Burnham’s leadership. Polling suggests Labour support has increased significantly, with a perceived “Burnham bounce” driven by stronger communications, effective use of social media and a more visible public profile. Despite this momentum, concerns remain regarding Labour’s lack of business experience, long-standing issues in social care and employment, and historic underinvestment in infrastructure and services. Key themes included:
- The continued focus on cost-of-living pressures, particularly around transport and energy costs.
- Efforts to reduce London-centric decision making through initiatives such as “No.10 North”.
- Expectations that Andy Burnham’s administration will face its first major test at the upcoming budget.
- Debate around whether a General Election could be called before 2027 if a fresh political mandate is sought.
- Positive commentary on key figures including John Healey and emerging voices involved in energy policy.
Overall sentiment was that the new administration has inherited significant challenges and that the real measure of success will be its ability to convert strong messaging into tangible outcomes.
Digital Risk for Legal Firms – a Survey
The second part of the discussion focused on findings from The Digital Risk Index 2026 which scores 15 areas of digital activity across the legal sector, from CRM and data to AI discovery and paid media, and shows where ambition and readiness conflict. Key findings were:
- The firms doing the most are often the most exposed.
- AI hasn’t torn up the rulebook, but it has exposed who fell short on the old fundamentals.
- Your best digital work may never show up in your data.
- The expertise is very rarely the problem, getting it out of the building is.
- A new CRM often exposes your commercial process more than it fixes it.
- Your website alone rarely wins the matter by itself, but it can quietly lose it.
The Rise of AI and the Risk
A central theme was that AI is increasingly exposing weaknesses in organisations’ fundamental digital foundations, particularly around data quality, content credibility and governance. Participants highlighted the importance of:
- Owning and actively managing an organisation’s digital narrative.
- Understanding what information exists online about the business.
- Ensuring third-party references and independent validation are strong and accurate.
- Implementing appropriate guardrails and governance around AI usage.
CRM and AI discovery are increasingly viewed as two of the highest digital risk areas for professional services firms. Rather than being technology issues alone, both expose weaknesses in operating models, processes and organisational behaviours.
CRM success depends less on the platform itself and more on consistent adoption across the business. Poor data quality, incomplete records and inconsistent user behaviour undermine reporting, marketing attribution and business development activities. Reliable insight requires strong processes, clear ownership and organisation-wide commitment to maintaining accurate data.
AI-powered search and discovery tools are becoming part of the buyer journey, influencing perceptions before direct contact with a firm. In this environment, organisations need clear positioning, strong evidence of expertise, up-to-date profiles and well-structured content. Weak foundations such as outdated information, vague service descriptions or limited proof points reduce visibility and trust.
Low-quality AI-generated content called ‘AI Slop’ is on the rise, noting that as AI-generated content becomes more widespread, originality, creativity and trusted expertise are likely to become increasingly valuable differentiators.
AI commercial pressures were also highlighted, with clients expecting organisations to embrace AI-driven efficiencies while simultaneously demanding lower costs and greater productivity.
In Summary
A sustainable digital performance is increasingly dependent on strong foundations rather than simply increasing activity. Better data, clearer ownership, stronger proof points, higher-quality content and robust systems are becoming critical enablers of growth and credibility. Scaling activity without addressing these fundamentals risks making existing weaknesses more visible.
The forum concluded that both politics and digital transformation are entering a period where execution matters more than messaging. Whether in government or business, success will increasingly depend on strong foundations, trustworthy data, effective governance and the ability to turn intent into measurable outcomes.
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* The Forum (known as PM Forum) is dedicated to raising the standards of marketing across law, accountancy, property and other professional sectors, and to enhancing the credibility of marketers.