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Law firm innovation leaders often talk about the “voice of the client.” As in: Outside lawyers should be listening to the pain points of clients in order to develop solutions for them.

But what happens when the client is silent?

Two recent surveys—one from the law firm side and one from the client side—suggest there is something of a communication breakdown between law firms and clients. Put bluntly, clients want cheaper legal services, but it gets left to law firms to determine just how to accomplish that. That can lead to law firms pursuing innovation that is not aligned with what clients want.

A survey of more than 250 legal department leaders released last week by Altman Weil asked what three innovations clients were most interested in. “Greater cost reduction” was the only “innovation” that more than 50 percent of clients (58 percent) said they were looking for. Nonhourly based pricing structures, improved budget forecasting, more efficient project management and more efficient project staffing were the only other “innovations” sought out by more than 30 percent of respondents.

Meanwhile, a less rigorous survey of 29 innovation leaders within law firms said that many clients do not explicitly demand that legal advisers seek ways to change their delivery models. Rather, they expect law firms to bring their ideas to them. The report from Jomati Consultants said the “lack of overt pressure” from clients was a source of frustration among innovation leaders.

The solution to this frustration, some law firm innovation leaders said, was to take a more proactive consulting approach to their clients. Clients are more than willing to discuss what they need from law firms. They just need to be asked. Clients often need help on analyzing new legal technologies, the Jomati report said.

“If there is one positive takeaway from this current lack of legal tech savviness from the in-house legal community, it is that some forward-thinking law firms have turned corporate counsels' collective lack of awareness into a business opportunity: Essentially, these law firms are now starting to offer legal tech consultancy services to their clients,” the report said.

Still, there is little indication that clients will increase explicit pressure on law firms to change their service delivery models. The Altman Weil survey noted that for the first time since 2011, more legal departments were planning this year to increase their budget for outside counsel (41.5 percent of respondents) compared with those who were going to decrease that spending (31.9 percent).