General counsel are increasingly in favour of law firms offering broader advisory services. Around one in four want their law firms to go down this route. However, they are also demanding greater commercial awareness from their external legal advisors. One general counsel from a technology multinational said this was the main barrier when it came to giving more work to external law firms. 'Often they just do not understand the workings of the company. We find that if we have in-house lawyers doing the work, they just get what the company wants.' Furthermore one in four are not happy with the way their law firms communicate with them. The findings come from the GC Excellence Benchmark Report 2017 in association with Terralex and will be discussed at the Law Firm Marketing Summit on 7 November. For further information, contact benmartin@globalcitymedia.com.