It can be hard to remember all the different brands floating around the legal market, especially when they keep changing. While some alternative legal service providers may be moving away from that moniker altogether, others have taken what might be considered an even greater leap and rebranded not only the descriptor they ascribe to, but the name above the door.

Take the company formerly know as Axiom Managed Services, which officially rechristened itself as Factor in January. Conduent, a tech-led business process services company that some may remember as Xerox's legal and business services arm, underwent a similar identity swap after splitting with its parent company back in 2017.

But is printing all of those new business cards worth it? The answer may depend entirely on the company in question. For some, a fresh name is the chance to reestablish solid footing in an industry where the technology, needs and expectations of clients have shifted rapidly over the last several years. Meanwhile, others could be jeopardizing invaluable brand recognition for a name that sounds good but ultimately doesn't do much heavy lifting.

"There is an increase in providers and a more crowded market space, so within that framework having a name that kind of helps identify where you fit and how you might be able to help is helpful," said Jason Brennan, Luminance's president of the Americas.

Standing out, for instance, was important for Chris DeConti, head of strategy at Factor. "It's always been true that we have this unique niche. I think one of the things our recent rebranding just allowed us to think about is how to articulate it in as straightforward [a] way as possible."

However, changing a brand is not a decision that companies may be able to make lightly, or without a great deal of market research. A clean slate is also a blank one, potentially wiping away any progress that companies have made in getting its name into the ears of potential customers.

DeConti said that ahead of the Factor rebrand, the company spent a lot of time on a communication plan to help get the word out about the name change, redoubling efforts with media and publicity and working their way through a database of close to 10,000 historical client contacts. "In some cases it was in-person meetings, in some cases it was phone calls, in some cases it was email, looking to reinforced [the new name] in various ways," he said.

Per Brennan, the risk a company takes with regards to a name change may depend on just how well-known its brand is in the first place.

"You probably wouldn't see Luminance changing its name now just because we feel that we've put a lot of effort into the brand on a global basis. People know it. People know what we do."

But Luminance also has the advantage of being a relatively young company, having launched in September 2016. Other brand names circulating in legal may have accrued a bit more mileage, finding themselves saddled with a name that no longer accurately reflects their business model or services.

"We've seen a lot of firms or organizations that were traditionally in a specific service area such as litigation that are now seeing that there's evolution in the market and they don't want to be left behind," Brennan said.

Joey Seeber, CEO of Level 2 Legal Services, indicated that when the company first launched 11 years ago as Level 2 Review, there were very few businesses specializing in document review on the market. As that service became more common and the company increased its own portfolio of offerings, a  midlife rebranding began to make sense.

"Because we were performing more value-added services for our clients, we thought, 'Well, [Level 2 Review] really limits us and its not very descriptive,'" Seeber said.

He recommended that companies who are considering taking on a new name give careful thought to their brand equity. For example, a company that has recently gained a new service or offering as the result of a major acquisition could stand to benefit from an identity that calls attention to its enhanced scope.

Seeber expects to see more company name embellishments on the horizon, even if it's just pivoting away from hyper-specific descriptors such as Legal 2 Review.

"With the consolidation that we're seeing and the clients who have begun to call upon us to do more, then yes, you'll see changes in the way that is described," Seeber said.