German clients are generally a pretty contented bunch.

According to data from Legalease Research Services, which contacts 300,000 clients globally each year to provide assessments of law firm service, clients in Germany rate the service they receive from all law firms as significantly better than clients in many other major legal centres.

As you can see from the chart below, German clients are more satisfied with the service they receive from both domestic and international law firms than clients in the the US, UK and Singapore.

Major legal markets: Overall client satisfaction levels

When we delve deeper into the numbers, we can see that small regional law firms are particularly well regarded.

Nuremberg-based THEOPARK Rechtsanwälte und Steuerberater Partnerschaft; Frankfurt-based Schweibert Lessmann & Partner; and Berlin-based Lexton Rechtsanwalte are the highest rated firms in the country for client satisfaction. All of these firms are boutiques, employing less than twenty lawyers.

But when we look at the larger players, including the big national firms and international players, it is US law firms that come out on top.

Milbank, McDermott Will & Emery as well as Mayer Brown, are the highest rated of the larger firms for client satisfaction in Germany, scoring well above the benchmark for their services. Indeed they score much more highly than the larger domestic firms, none of which feature in the top-ten.

Overall, the data is good news for law firms operating in Germany. In this important legal market, which has weathered the pandemic relatively well, law firms are generally pleasing their clients.

Data: Legalease Research Services surveys 300,000 commercial law firm clients globally each year. All scores are statistically validated (bands of uncertainty are marked within square brackets). Scores are relative (not absolute) and are benchmarked against the average score of all clients for all client service criteria. For definitions and methodology see www.legaleasedata.com/faqs/. For scores of individual law firms (drilled-down into multiple work areas and multiple jurisdictions) contact enquiries@legaleasedata.com