Unpacking client capture: evidence from corporate law firms

Abstract

The literature on the professions long recognized that clients can exert considerable influence over their advising professionals, with the risk that the advice they are given may not be in their best interests. In a qualitative study of 106 Canadian corporate lawyers working in large law practices we find that the traditional formulation of this problem, in terms of a client ‘capturing’ a professional, fails to address the complexities of situations in which the client is a corporation and the professional is a partner within a large professional service firm. We induce a model of client capture from our data that unpacks the concept and shows that the professional may fall under a range of influences, not all of which come from the client directly; and distinguishes between four distinct forms of capture which, in effect, trace the pathways through which the power of the client is exercised. We illustrate the nature of the resulting influences on professionals using material from the interviews, and consider the implications of our findings.